The Love Bug
by celrock
Summary: Partially parodies my unpleasant experience of being sick in February of 2015, only now it's a 2-year-old toddler named Tommy Pickles sick with this terrible Flu bug, but while recovering, he develops his first childhood crush, with a pink haired toddler named Rosie, short for Rosalind. However, this crush isn't all it's cracked up to be. Rosalind is owned by Nairobi-Harper.
1. Love at First Sight

Author's Note: I'm suppose to be working on homework that's due at school tomorrow, but my mind keeps wandering off to this story, and I just can't stop thinking about it. So thought I'd write up the first chapter and get it posted, for all of you to enjoy. Hope you enjoy, and, without further a due, let's get started!

The Love Bug

Summary: Partially parodies my unpleasant experience of being sick in February of 2015, only now it's a 2-year-old toddler named Tommy Pickles sick with this terrible Flu bug, but while recovering, he develops his first childhood crush, with a pink haired toddler named Rosie, short for Rosalind. However, this crush isn't all it's cracked up to be. Rosalind is owned by Nairobi-Harper.

Disclaimer: I do not own the original Rugrats characters, they're the property of their original creaters. I own Zack, along with any OC's you don't recognize, while Peter is owned by TCKing12, Jesse is owned by JJB Jesse Barrow, Rosie, her sister Mary, and her parents are owned by Nairobi-Harper, Hazel and her aunt are owned by AsToldByHazelNut, Courtney is owned by Tropical and Sean, and Natalie is owned by Emma Pickles.

Chapter 1, Love at First Sight

Location: Yucaipa, California, February 4, 2014

Tommy, Chuckie, Phil, Lil, Kimi, Zack, Jesse and Dil were all out in the backyard at Tommy and Dil's house, chasing Spike and Spikfi around the tree in the yard. They were all having fun until they noticed something rather odd. While all of the young toddlers seemed to have a lot of energy, chasing after the two puppy dogs, they noticed that both, Tommy and Chuckie ran out of breath the earliest. Now this was not unusual for Chuckie, as he had allergies that caused his nose to get stopped up most of the time, causing him to run out of breath sooner when playing tagging games like that, Tommy, Phil and Lil all knew of this fact for quite sometime now. Chuckie's daddy even took him to see a doctor who tried to clear up his nose with a special device, but sadly, even that was short lived. Feeling bad about what went down, the doctor gave Chuckie her rat Chetter as a present, but as a result of that little white rat making Chaz's allergies worse, to the point where he had to give himself Athma treatments once every hour, he had to be given back to Doctor Brander, and that was the last that doctor saw of the Finsters. But here they were, both, Tommy and Chuckie tired and out of breath.

"What's wrong Tommy?" Chuckie asked.

"I don't know what happened Chuckie." Tommy replied.

"Are you sick?" Lil asked.

"Did you get plenty of sleep last night?" Phil asked.

"I don't think I'm sick, and I gotted plenty of sleep last night. Maybe I should just, rest for a lil while and I'll try again in a bit." Said Tommy, as he sat down in the grass next to Chuckie, and the two of them, watched their other friends go another time around the tree, chasing after Spike and Spikfi.

After resting for a little while, Tommy and Chuckie decided to get up and try again, only once again, Tommy and Chuckie were the first two to tire out. And this time, when Tommy collapsed on the ground, he landed right where the loose board in the fence was, peering into the backyard of the house that neighbored behind hids.

"You ok Tommy?" Chuckie asked.

"Oh I'm sure he's fine Chuckie, now come on!" Said Kimi, as she grabbed her older brother's hand, and drug him over to the sandbox, where Zack, Dil, and Jesse were making sandcastles and digging wholes.

Tommy didn't notice any of this going on because no sooner was he peering through the whole created by the broken fence board, when his eyes were fixed on the most beautiful toddler he had ever seen. She looked to be about two-years-old, and she had hot pink hair, and was wearing a dark purple dress. He knew of a large, gray monster dog that lived in that yard, and he was still there, only at that time, he was chained up, so as to not hurt anybody, as Tommy had encountered this dog twice in his short little life, once to get his ball back at a barbecue, and another time, when Chuckie tried to prove he was dreaming, by going up against that terrible monster dog, but never had Tommy seen such a beautiful little girl in his life, and as tired out as he was from the tag game, he couldn't take his eyes off of her.

What Tommy didn't know was this little girl he was staring at, couldn't take her eyes off of him either. Rosie Hall, a pink haired toddler, who had recently turned two-years-old was visiting her dying grandmother with her mommy, daddy, and seven-year-old sister Mary. Rosie didn't really know what death was all about, but seeing her grandmother on her mommy's side of the family was a rare thing for her. In fact, the Halls didn't live in Yucaipa, California. They lived a lot further away, in a place called Boston, Massachusetts. In Beantown, Rosie lived quite the life, playing with her three girlfriends, Hazel, Natalie, and Courtney. Hazel had blond hair, loved going on adventures, and to Rosie's disgust, she loved to play in the mud and eat worms. Rosie hoped for her sake, that one day, Hazel would grow out of such disgusting things, or if she didn't, the man she married would be fascinated by such creepy crawly things. Hazel lived with her parents, who traveled a lot in their work, and ocasionally, her aunt would pay her visits, and Rosie would get to see Hazel's aunt, as since Hazel's parents traveled a lot, she spent a lot of time at Rosie's, in the care of Rosie's parents, and, despite some of Hazel's disgusting interests as a one and a half-year-old toddler, they grew to be the best of friends. Then there was Natalie, the quiet one. A dark haired girl who had her parents worried she might either be deaf or autistic, and it was thanks to being friends with Natalie that Hazel and Rosie were learning sign language, so the three of them could communicate. Natalie was the oldest of the group, and would soon be two and a half. And finally, there was the new girl in town, Courtney. She had recently moved to the United States from Russia, and back around Christmas time, on a sunny, but snowy day at the park, Hazel, Rosie, and Natalie all met Courtney. She had blond hair, and like these other three girls, she fancied adventure and excitement, but Courtney could take them to a place where no baby had ever been before. Thanks to a magic snowflake pendent she wore around her neck, she could take her friends to the magical land of Winter Wonderland. Here, they had lots of adventures, and Rosie couldn't wait to learn how to write like her big sister, so she could write stories about all of the fun adventures they took to this magical land. But one day sometime after ringing in the new year, Rosie's mommy got a very disturbing phone call. It was from the personal care assistant that cared for Rosie's grandmother, who Rosie would learn later on was actually Hazel's aunt. She called up Rosie's mommy to give her the bad news that Rosie's grandmother wasn't doing well, and to come see her right away. Because this would most likely be the last time any of the family would see grandma alive, Mrs. Hall had everybody take off of school and work, bought four plane tickets, and roughly a day ago, Rosie took her second airplane ride to visit her grandmother.

Of course, being only two-years-old, Rosie didn't really understand what was going on. On the flight to California, she talked to her older sister Mary, and asked her why they were going to see grandma if it wasn't Christmas or somebody's birthday or something, and Mary tried to explain to her little sister about death, but Rosie just couldn't get it. While the seven-year-old understood about death, in fact, she learned about death when she was age four, and her pet goldfish died, Rosie had yet to learn about this concept, but it would only be a matter of time, before she found out about it.

They arrived early that morning, and Rosie was so full of energy, that her mommy made sure grandma's pet dog was tied up in the backyard, and sent Rosie out to play. Her grandmother had gotten a gray dog who she found as a stray a while back. Sadly, it was obvious he had been mistreated, as he was mean to any intruder who came into his yard, but the dog was good at scaring any intruders away, and Rosie's grandmother found him to be a very good watchdog, despite his demeanor. In fact, she recalled two times, when some small toddlers entered her yard. A couple of years ago on the Fourth of July, a green ball with an orange star on it had landed in her yard, and the next morning, she was planning to go out and return it to them, as it was obvious a barbecue was going on in the yard behind her's, and she didn't want to bother her neighbors, but at some point in the late afternoon, early evening, four young toddlers had ventured into her yard to get their ball back. She was about to call the Police to report these toddlers, when the two that looked like twins, along with a slightly older one with red hair had run back into the yard where they had come from, and not ten minutes later, a brown dog from the other yard, had jumped into her's, and rescued the bald headed baby boy wearing a diaper, who was trying to get the ball.

Then, a few months later one morning, she peered out her window again, to see the red haired two-year-old boy in her yard again, only her dog was chasing him away, and he made it back into the other yard, once the bald headed toddler had thrown a branch at the dog to distract him. Noticing the loose fence board, Rosie's grandmother always meant to get that fixed, but then, she fell ill with Alhimer's Disease, and it got to where what happened the day before was long forgotten come the next morning. Besides, the toddlers never ventured into Rosie's grandmother's yard again, so it was never an issue.

At one time, her grandmother considered moving into a retirement home, but on the day she went to check it out, in early to mid autumn, just a few days shy of the annual fall parade, her grandmother went to check this place out, when she saw an old man with a gray muchstash and a bald spot on his head, being placed on to a stretcher and placed into an ambulance.

"Con flabbid, that was my good leg!" She heard the old man exclaim as the ambulance doors closed and he was rushed off to the hospital.

Upon seeing this go down, she wasn't convinced that moving into this place was a good idea, so she returned to the home she had forever ever since her daughter grew up, went off to school, and she and her husband, who died before her granddaughter Mary was born, moved to California to retire, and spend their twilight years, as they were tired of the awful winters in Massachusetts, and wanted to live in some place that was a little bit warmer. They would get the occasional blizzard, but nothing like what they had in Massachusetts, and when Rosie's grandmother got to where she had more trouble taking care of herself, she hired a personal care assistant to come in and help take care of her.

The lady who was hired to care for her was in her late twenties, and fresh out of medical school. What was even more fascinating was that this lady also had family up in Massachusetts, a sister, brother-in-law, and just recently, her niece was born, a beautiful little girl named Hazel.

On the morning of the Hall's arrival to California, they went immediately to Rosie's grandmother's house. Mary rang the doorbell, and a lady answered the door. She was tall, with gray hair wearing a blue bath robe.

"Grandma?" Mary cried, as she threw her arms around her grandmother, who could barely keep her balance on her feet.

"My dear, dear child, come in." Said grandma, in a very weak voice.

"Here mom, let me help you." Said Mrs. Hall, who handed Rosie over to her father, and helped guide grandma over to a chair, and had her sit down.

"Now now Shirly sweetheart, I don't need help, I'm, fine." Said grandma in that weak voice again, as she sat down in a comfortable white easy chair.

"No you're not mom, and in case you forgot, my name is Shannon, not Shirly." Said Shannon, as she took a seat over on a couch that was next to her mother.

"Now you be nice or I won't let you watch I Love Lucy." Said grandma.

"Mother, I Love Lucy isn't on TV anymore. The only way anybody can watch that show is via Amazon Prime or buying the complete series on DVD." Explained Shannon.

"What's a DVD?" Grandma asked.

"DVD's are those CD things that play videos grandma, like what you got me for Christmas last year. Remember? You sent me the first season of Miss Stephanie's Happy House." Explained Mary, as she took a seat next to her mom, and stared at her grandmother.

At this point, Rosie was starting to kick her father and get ancy, so Mr. Hall went and put her out into the backyard to play, once he saw that the dog was tied up, so he couldn't harm his daughter, and then, he went back inside to tend to his wife, oldest daughter, and mother-in-law.

"Now you be a good girl Rosie, and stay away from the doggy." Said Mr. Hall, before heading inside.

Rosie gave her daddy a smile and a giggle, which told him she understood where she could play and not play.

Once her daddy had disappeared back into the house, Rosie explored the yard, and imagined herself in the jungle, and that she had to avoid any wild animals that could come her way.

While playing though, she stopped and turned towards the fence that lined the far end of the backyard, where she spotted the cutest little boy she ever saw. He looked to be about two-years-old, had dark purple hair, looked quite tired, but at the same time, he seemed to be staring at her, and he was wearing an orange and blue striped t-shirt, and a pair of blue jean overall shorts. He was also barefooted, and Rosie was about to crawl over to the fence to introduce herself, when she heard a lady's voice call from the yard where the boy must have come from.

"Come on kids, time for lunch." She heard the lady call from the other yard.

At that instant, the little boy turned around, and ran the opposite direction, causing the loose board to flap back down, covering the whole he had made, and for Rosie to be left to stare at a brown fenced, that was separating her from her possible future boyfriend, as she had run into many little boys at the park back home, but none as cute as this young fellow, and she hoped that one day, she could finally meet him. Then, she got a brilliant idea! Her daddy never told her to stay in the yard, so, she would just sneak into the yard of this little boy's house, and introduce herself, but before she could attempt this plan, the backdoor to her grandmother's house opened and closed behind her. She turned around to see her sister Mary, standing over her, with tears in her eyes.

"What's wrong?" Rosie asked.

"Gr'gr'gr'gr'grandmother… D'd'd'd'died." Cried Mary, as she went into uncontrollable sobs, and wrapped her arms tight around her little sister.

"Don't worry Sis, I'm sure she's fine." Said Rosie, trying to cheer her sister up.

"No Rosie, she's not ok, come on, I'll show you." Said Mary, as she led her little sister back into the house, and the two of them, went to her grandmother's bedroom, where they found her, lying on the bed.

To Rosie, she simply looked to be asleep.

"She's just asleep Mary, see?" Said Rosie, pointing to her grandmother's body, unaware of what really happened.

"No, she's not going to wake up, trust me." Said Mary, as tears continued to trickle silently down her cheeks.

"Oh sure she will, watch." Said Rosie, as she climbed up on to her grandmother's bed, and tried to shake her awake, but nothing happened.

"Oh, I see what you mean. Well, maybe she's just really tired. You'll see, I'm sure she'll be awake for dinner and you'll forget about this dying thing." Said Rosie, as she hopped down from the bed.

"No sis, read my lips, grandma's dead." Said Mary in a stirn voice, hoping to get through to the two-year-old, but seems as if nothing was getting through to her.

Just then, they overheard Miss Stephanie's House starting on the TV downstairs, so went down to watch it. While watching the show, it caused Rosie to recall the last time she came to visit her grandmother. It was a long time ago, when she could barely crawl, and her hair was still blond. Well over a year ago, as she didn't even know Hazel or Natalie at this point in her life, as she met them sometime after her first birthday, and her hair started to turn pink. She and her six-year-old sister were curled up on the couch with their grandmother, watching what was Miss Carol's Happy House back then, and it was the start of a new month, because it was when Miss Carol was picking out her new happy helper. Poor Mary always wanted to audition to be Miss Carol's Happy Helper, but the rules stated that you had to be between the ages of three and six-years-old, and that you had to be a resident of Yucaipa, California, which sadly, she wasn't, she was only there visiting. Nonetheless, she still enjoyed watching the show, but while on this particular visit to her grandmother's, she, Rosie, and grandma saw something rather different take place that day on the show. There were three kids there, sighned up to try out for the part. A dark haired boy, a black girl wearing a pink dress, and a blond with pigtails. The first two kids failed their auditions, as they had to say the fun phrase, so it was time for the blond to take her turn, only the blond said a phrase with a bad word in it.

"She thinks we're all little bleeeeeeep!" Exclaimed the blond on the TV.

"Rosie, I hope you didn't hear that." Said Mary in her sister's ear.

Rosie didn't like what she heard out of that little girl's mouth, and only hoped she'd never meet her.

"I swear Rosie, if I ever meet that little girl, I'm gonna teach her to talk nice." Said Mary at the TV, disgusted with what she heard.

"I don't think you kids should be watching this show." Said grandma, as she fumbled around, looking for the remote, which had fallen beneath some couch pillows. Of course, with having Alhimer's Disease, it took her the rest of the show to find the remote, causing Mary and Rosie to see everything.

"That's it, get her out, get her out of here." Hissed Miss Carol on the TV.

"But that's what you said, and you said it Miss Carol." Yelled the blond with the pigtails.

"You're right, you're right, you know what you're right. I've said it before and I will say it again. You are all, little…" Said Miss Carol, before the TV switched to a test pattern, interrupting her bad word.

Of course, what Mary and Rosie didn't realize until the next day was that by saying this, Miss Carol was fired from the TV company, never to work there again, causing her assistant Stephanie, to end up taking over the show. Once Stephanie took over, the show grew in popularity, and the rules were changed, to where any kid, as long as they were in the United States and between the ages of three and six could audition to be the Happy Helper. When Mary heard about this, she would send in a postcard every month, but sadly, her name was never drawn. Now, at the current moment, she was too old to audition, as she turned seven back in November of 2013, but she still liked to watch the show when she could, as it came on while she was at school, so she could only watch it on weekends or when she had off from school for vacation.

Meanwhile, back at Tommy's house, he was staring at the pink haired toddler in the next yard, when his mommy called him, his brother, and his friends all inside for lunch. Once seated around the kitchen table, everybody started to eat their lunch, except for Tommy. Not only did he have this little girl on his mind, but his tiredness started to get worse, and he had no appetite.

"What's wrong Tommy?" Chuckie asked, looking up from his lunch to notice that Tommy had hardly touched his.

"Oh nothing, I guess I'm just, more tired than I thought." Said Tommy, as he pushed his lunch away, and hopped down from his seat at the table, and headed into the living room where he sat down in the playpen, looking out the glass doors that lined the back of the playpen, and looked out into the backyard.

He looked in hopes to see if he could still catch a glimpse of that little girl in the next yard, but by this time, the broken flap had obviously fallen down because he wasn't there with his head through the whole anymore. He then let out a huge yawn, and turned away to see his mommy setting out pillows and blankets on the floor of the playpen for everybody to take their nap. A few minutes later, Jesse, Zack, Dil, Phil, Lil, Kimi and Chuckie had all finished their lunch and were all congregating around Tommy in the playpen, and Didi brought them all bottles of warm milk to drink.

"Here you go kids." Said Didi, handing everybody their bottles, as the toddlers took their bottles, and curled up on a pillo, getting comfortable beneath a blanket. Tommy and Chuckie, lay down next to one another. Chuckie looked over at his best friend, concerned.

"Are you sure you're ok Tommy? You don't seem like yourself today." Said Chuckie.

"I'm fine Chuckie, I just, need to take my nappy, and you'll see, I'll be all better." Said Tommy, as he let out a huge yawn, and closed his eyes, drifting off to sleep.

"Maybe you're right Tommy, well, have a nice nap guys." Said Chuckie, as he removed his glasses and placed them on the floor above his pillow, before drifting off to sleep himself.

The toddlers all took their nap for the next two hours. When they awoke, everybody felt refreshed and energized, except for Tommy. When he awoke, he noticed a sharp pain in his throat, and didn't feel well.

"Nap time's over, let's go play!" Said Kimi excitedly, as she burst up from her sleeping place, and ran for the exit of the playpen.

"We're right behind ya." Said Lil, as she grabbed Phil's hand and they caught up with Kimi.

"Me too." Said Dil, as he ran up behind Phil and Lil.

"Don't forget me." Said Jesse, as he caught up to Dil, Zack toddling behind him.

Chuckie yawned and stretched, put on his glasses, and saw the small line forming at the exit of the playpen, then he turned to notice Tommy was still lying next to him. His eyes looked droopy, and he didn't look too happy.

"What's wrong Tommy?" Chuckie asked.

"Outch!" Tommy cried, before he started wailing at the top of his lungs.

"Oh dear, are you ok snookems?" Said Didi, as she came and picked up her crying child.

The other kids left the playpen to go play on the other side of the room, while Chuckie sat on the floor, seeing his best friend in distress, and Didi, trying to comfort him.

It was then that Didi got a good look at his throat.

"Oh dear sweetie, you don't look so good. Come on, let's have a closer look." Said Didi, as she carried the crying Tommy into the kitchen, and shined a flashlight into his throat.

"I think you're sick sweetie. We'll have to take you to the doctor to get you all checked out." Said Didi, as she came back into the living room, and made up a little bed on the couch for Tommy with a pillow and blanket, and lay him down.

At this point, Chuckie rushed out of the playpen to see about his friend.

"Now you just rest here sweetie, everything's gonna be ok." Said Didi, as she blew Tommy a kiss and went back into the kitchen.

By this time, Tommy had stopped crying, and was about to drift back off to sleep, when someone grabbed a hold of his right hand, which was dangling off the side of the couch. Through is nearly closed droopy eyes, he saw it was Chuckie.

"Oh gosh Tommy, that doesn't sound good." Said Chuckie, as he sat on the floor, and held Tommy's hand.

His throat, too hurt to talk, as while it hurt, it hurt worse when he was crying, Tommy squeezed Chuckie's hand, and tried to give him a smile, hoping this would get Chuckie to stop worrying, but it was no use. Chuckie knew his friend was sick, and it would take longer than a day for him to get all better.

A few hours later, it was dinner time, and everybody was staying for dinner, because their parents or in Zack's case, his aunt, all had things to do, that would cause them to pick the kids up late. Didi tried to get Tommy to eat a bowl of soup, but Tommy wasn't hungry, and proceeded to do something he doesn't do very often. He picked up his bowl of soup, and threw it on the floor.

"Wow! That sounds like fun!" Said Phil excitedly, as he picked up his plate of spaghetti, and threw it on the floor.

His sister Lil and the rest of the kids all followed suit and before they knew it, everyone had thrown their plates on the floor, and poor Stu and Didi had a huge mess to clean up.

After everyone had gone home, and Stu and Didi had cleaned up the mess, they ran bathtime for Tommy and Dil. Dil tried to get his brother to play with him in the bath, but Tommy clammed up in the corner of the tub, uninterested in anything. On top of not feeling well, his mind kept on wandering back to earlier, as he saw visions of that little pink headed girl in his head. Reluctantly, Dil played by himself in the tub, and before they knew it, everybody was tucked in, to go to sleep. Dil in his crib, and Tommy, over in his bed. No sooner had his head hit the pillow did Tommy fall asleep, while Dil was awake for a little while longer, wondering if perhaps aliens were the cause of this, before he finally drifted off to sleep.

Meanwhile, back at Rosie's grandmother's, Miss Stephanie's Happy House ended on the TV, and the rest of the day was more or less, uneventful, as the family was quiet, hardly talking to one another, saddened by the recent tragic events that had taken place that day. Rosie, still unaware of what had really happened, went on about her day, as she ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for dinner, took her bath, and went to bed in one of the guest rooms that was fixed up for people to sleep in at her grandmother's, she lay next to her sister in the big white teaster bed that her mommy slept in as a girl, and while she lay there, trying to go to sleep, she saw visions of that little purple haired two-year-old boy in her head, and was determined to meet him, the next day.

And this, ends chapter 1. So, will Tommy get better? Will Rosie and Tommy ever finally meet? Well, you'll have to wait and find out in a later chapter.


	2. Diagnosis and Hard Truths

Author's Note: Well, still no motivation to get anything important done, so, have the next chapter!

Chapter 2, Diagnosis and Hard Truths

The following morning, Tommy and Dil awoke. Dil was happy to be alive, while poor Tommy felt worse. On top of his soar throat, he had a runny nose, felt achy all over, including a headache, and found it cold.

"Morning Tommy, how's my favoritest brother?" Dil asked excitedly, as he jumped out of his crib on to the floor and headed towards the bedroom door.

Tommy slowly got out of bed, and felt a chill in the air as soon as his feet touched the carpet.

"I'm cold Dilly." Tommy replied in a weak voice, sounding stopped up, as he started to shiver.

"Hmmm, it feels fine to me Tommy. Are you sure aliums haven't invaded your brain?" Dil asked, turning around to stare at his two-year-old brother, shaking something awful.

"Stop it Dil." Tommy muttered under his breath, as he slowly turned around and climbed back into bed, pulling the covers up over his head.

"You are weird, it's like, daytime, time to get up, not sleep." Said Dil.

"I'm sick Dil, now go away!" Tommy snapped, as he popped his head out from beneath the covers, sending an annoyed glare in his brother's direction, before pulling them back up over his head, and going back to dsleep.

Dil just turned around and headed downstairs, where Stu met him at the bottom.

He picked up Dil and carried his one-year-old son to the table, where he got him situated in his highchair, and he, Didi and Dil all sat down for breakfast.

Tommy spent most of that day in bed, except for a little while in the late morning and again at dinner time, when Didi tried to get him to eat something, only to have him throw his dishes on to the floor. She did manage to get him to take a bottle of warm milk and some Tylonol to help bring down the pain, and that afternoon, she put on a Reptar DVD for Tommy and Dil, but while Dil stayed awake for the whole thing, and usually, Tommy couldn't take his eyes off of the screen when Reptar was on, today was different. The DVD hadn't been on for five minutes, when Tommy slumped back against his pillows on the couch, and fell asleep.

Didi called the doctor's office, to arrange to have Tommy be seen by either Dr. Shacter or one of the nurse practitioners to ensure he didn't have Strep, as Didi had recently heard it was going around, and due to Tommy being ill, when everybody came to pick up their kids the night before, she asked Kira, Betty, Celeste and Laura to not bring their kids over until Tommy was all better, or at least, his temperature was back to normal, as she took his temp, to find it was subnormal, and that she'd be in touch. For this reason, Laura had some vacation time at work, so she took it and watched the kids until further notice.

The Reptar DVD ended, and Dil enjoyed the ending so much.

"Hey Tommy, wasn't it cool how Reptar beat the giant cockroaches?" Said Dil excitedly, as he jumped up from his spot on the floor as the DVD was ending, only to turn around, to find his brother, fast asleep on the couch, hurteled beneath a blanket.

That night at dinner, after Didi cleaned up Tommy's mess of throwing his dinner plate on to the floor, and getting him put to bed, she came back down to eat with Stu and Dil.

"Well Tommy's in bed." Said Didi with a sigh, as the exhausted mother took her place at the table, and dug into a bowl of soup, as dinner was soup and sandwiches that evening, due to Tommy being sick, and Didi being exhausted from caring for him.

"So, did you get a doctor's appointment scheduled for tomorrow?" Stu asked, as he took a bite of his roast beef sandwich.

"Yes, it's scheduled for tomorrow afternoon, but the doctor can't see him, so one of the nurse practitioners is going to see him." Replied Didi.

Everybody finished up their dinner, and Dil ate most of his soup and yogurt, except for that he managed to cover his head with and stuff up his diaper, which Stu and Didi got cleaned up before putting him to bed. By the time they got Dil to bed, Tommy was fast asleep, so Dil's bedtime routine was done quietly, no story book, no music, just a bottle of hot milk and ovalteen, and a goodnight kiss. He didn't like his bedtime routine being altered because his brother was sick, so proceeded to scream, waking Tommy up. Feeling miserable, Tommy screamed right along with him, and it took nearly two hours of storybooks and soothing music, to get them calmed back down to fall asleep.

While Tommy spent the day being more or less, quarenteened, Rosie, had a different type of day. That morning, the PCA for her grandmother stopped by, only to learn of the bad news. When she got there though, she found Rosie and Mary watching the Dummi Bears on the TV, and recognized Rosie right off.

"Well hello there Rosie!" Said the PCA excitedly, recognizing her. Rosie got up from her spot on the living room rug, and smiled when she saw the lady, recognizing her.

"How do you know Rosie?" Mary asked, noticing what was going on, turning her attention away from the TV to join in.

"I'm Hazel's aunt, and met your sister the last time I came to visit, but I don't believe we've met." Said the PCA.

"I'm Mary, and I'm usually off at school when my sister is playing with Hazel, but not today, because, well…" Mary's voice trailed off as tears started to form.

"Your mom and dad told me what happened, and I'm very sorry." Said the lady, as she gave the crying child a hug.

An ambulance came by later that morning to take grandma's dead body to the funeral home, while Rosie and Mary's parents followed them there, to make the arrangements, leaving the PCA to watch the kids, and fill out some final paperwork to give to the agency she worked for.

That afternoon, Rosie was sent outside to play, and used this as a way to get closer to that little boy. When nobody was looking, she found the board where the little boy had peered through into the yard, and slipped through it, finding herself in another backyard. She wasn't sure if it belonged to that little boy, or to a friend or relative of his, but obviously a child lived there, as she spotted a sandbox and several toys in the yard, as well as a doghouse at one end. But she wasn't giving up yet, she was going to at least find out if the little boy she desired did indeed, live at this house. Thankful that no dogs or people were occupying the yard, she crept up on to the patio, where she peered in through the glass French doors that looked into the kitchen, only to see a lady with strawberry red hair talking on the telephone.

Sighing with disappointment, and about ready to turn back, she spotted another set of glass doors, the sliding kind a little ways down, so went over to them, thankful the lady was too occupied with her phone conversation to notice, and peered inside those doors. Right off, she saw a fenced in area with several toys, but nobody playing with them, then, she gazed further into the room, to notice a baby with an inch of strawberry red hair watching what appeared to be Reptar on TV, something her mommy and daddy wouldn't let her or her sister watch, not after the story they heard from Rosie's grandmother, who had volunteered at a carnival a couple of years ago, where she saw a guy dressed up as Reptar, terrorizing the place, after some little girl of about age three, took the tray of cerial samples he was suppose to be handing out. She was waiting for a ride to finish, to help escort the passengers off in the right direction, when she spotted the Reptar guy jump out of the water at the Tunnel of Love ride, scaring the couple in the swan boat, and ever since then, the Halls were instructed, to not allow any trace of Reptar into their home if they could help it.

No matter, Rosie spotted the little boy, curled up next to a brown puppy, watching Reptar, then, she moved her gaze over to the couch, where an older brown dog, perhaps the puppy's mother was curled up on the floor, and then, she saw him, the purple haired boy was on the couch, fast asleep. While he had a blanket wrapped tightly around him, she recognized his face and dark purple hair, and was sad to learn that he was taking a nap. She was about to sit and wait for him to stir, when she heard a voice in the distance.

"Rosie! Where are you?" She heard her mother calling from the next yard. She rushed towards the sound of her mother's voice, crawling back through the gap in the fence, back into her grandmother's yard, to find a very displeased mother, staring down at her.

"There you are! I'm so glad you're safe!" Said Shannon, as she picked up her daughter, and gave Rosie a huge hug.

"Rosie, you should never go wandering off like that." Said Shannon sternly, as she carried Rosie back into the house.

Rosie started to cry, and Mary had a stirn talking to, as she was suppose to be watching her sister, or at least, helping to keep a watch on her, since the PCA had paperwork to get done, and couldn't keep her eye on them every second, she was basically there so the kids wouldn't be left at the house without an adult, but the funeral arrangements had been made, visiting would take place over the next couple of days, and the funeral would take place on Sunday.

Rosie had no idea what a funeral was, but she only hoped that she'd have another chance to meet that little boy, at least get to learn his name, maybe have one playdate with him before she had to go home. She missed her friends a lot back home, and wanted somebody aroundf her age to play with, but to be able to tell her friends about meeting a boy, who she really liked, would be super cool!

The following day, Rosie went to a place where she had never been before.

"What's this Mary?" Rosie asked her sister with curiosity, as they walked into the funeral home.

"This is a funeral home, it's where we'll be saying goodbye to grandma." Explained Mary.

Rosie looked around, to see lots of flowers, and then, she spotted her grandmother, still appearing to be asleep, just as she saw her the last time. She then saw lots of people, most of which, she didn't recognize, come through, give everybody, including Rosie a hug, and some of them, knelt down near where her grandmother was lying. Rosie didn't understand why they were doing this, and because her sister was keeping a firm hold on her hand, she couldn't exactly go off to explore.

"_If this is how we say goodbye to someone, it's a strange way of doing it. Why don't we just, wave and say bye bye?_" Rosie thought to herself, as she continued to sit with her sister, bored, but curious and confused, all at the same time.

Meanwhile, while Rosie was experiencing her most confusing day ever, Tommy took a long nap in the morning, and after lunch, which he only ate a few spoonfulls of yogurt, and drank his water, Dil was put down for his nap, while Stu attended to his latest invention in the basement, and Tommy was put into the car, where Didi took him to his doctor's appointment.

"_Hopefully the doctor will make me all better._" Tommy thought to himself, as his mommy drove to the doctor's office.

After they got there, he was called back to see the doctor. He was weighed, his temperature was taken, giving a reading of 97.5, they took his blood pressure, and a little while later, the nurse practitioner came in, to do a full checkup on him, and see how he was doing.

Didi explained what was going on, and the nurse looked into Tommy's throat, and took a culture. Then, they waited, to see what the results were. Finally, after what felt like a lifetime to Tommy, the nurse came back.

"Well, it's not Strep, but we'll continue to observe it over the weekend, and give you a call on Monday, to see if anything has changed. Chances are he just has a virus, so the best things for him to do, is to get plenty of rest and drink fluids." Explained the nurse.

"Thank you mam." Said Didi, as she gathered up Tommy, who had been given a lollipop, and they left the doctor's office.

Tommy sucked on his lemon lollipop on the way home, hoping it would make him feel all better later, especially since he didn't enjoy that visit to the doctor's one bit, especially when they stuck that thing down his throat, making him gag.

Upon getting home, he ran into Dil, who was watching the Goober show on the TV.

"So, how was it?" Dil asked, turning around to see his big brother hovering over him, with his lollipop in his hand.

"The doctor says I have something called a virus. I have to take lots of nappies and drink fluids." Explained Tommy in a croky voice.

"What are fluids?" Dil asked.

"I don't know, I've only drinked milk and juice. I only hope fluids don't taste yucky like medicine does, but I did get a lolly so hopefully that will make me all better and I won't need to drink this fluids stuff." Replied Tommy, as he put the lollipop back into his mouth to finish it. At this point, Dil turned his attention back to the TV while Tommy curled up on the couch to finish his lollipop.

Sadly, while the lollipop tasted good, Tommy didn't feel any better, and over the next couple of days, he started to feel worse, as he started to have some major coughing fits, that kept him awake half the night.

While Tommy continued to battle this terrible virus, Rosie soon learned a fact of life that any two-year-old shouldn't have to go through. She spent another day at the funeral home, and then, she went to a church. She had been to churches many times before, so nothing odd about this, but this time was interesting, as people talked about her grandmother, as they continued to say goodbye to her, only this confused Rosie even more, as she didn't see her grandmother anywhere, only her mommy, daddy, big sister, and several people she didn't recognize, while others, she briefly remembered seeing them at the funeral home, but only once or twice, so their faces did not look all that familiar.

Then, in the afternoon, after the service at the church was over, she road in the backseat of the rental car her parents had, very slowly, as other cars drove slowly in front of them, to a wide outside place. When they got there, she and Mary got out of the car, to be met by miles of endless grass, and stones sticking up out of the ground.

"Wow! This place looks biggerer than the park! Let's go play sis." Said Rosie excitedly, but as she tried to run off, Mary stopped her.

"We're not here to play." Said Mary, firmly holding Rosie's hand.

"Then what are we here for?" Rosie asked.

"To say goodbye to grandma." Replied Mary, as their parents grabbed their free hands, daddy taking a hold of Mary's, while mommy taking a hold of Rosie's, and leading them over to where a crowd had gathered.

There were bagpipes playing, and a whole dug in the ground. That's when it hit Rosie for the first time, what was really happening. Grandma was going under ground, never to be seen again. She turned around, buried her face into her sister's chest, and cried, soaking Mary's blue dress.

"What's wrong?" Mary asked.

"It's true, grandma's gone forever." Cried Rosie through her sobs.

"Yes, she is." Said Mary, as she too started to cry, the two sisters, embracing, and crying together.

Their grandmother was laid down in her spot in the ground, and the whole was covered. After about half an hour, everybody left the cemitary, and Rosie and her family, headed back to her grandmother's house. For the first time in Rosie's short little life, the house felt different. It didn't feel like grandma's house anymore, and all that would cheer her up at this point, would be to go home, or to go find that boy.

The next day, Mary and Rosie's daddy headed for home, because daddy had to get back to work, and Mary couldn't miss anymore school, but Rosie and her mommy were staying longer, while they saw to getting the house cleared out and ready to either be sold, or torn down and renovated. While Rosie missed her sister, a twinge of excitement came to her.

"_Maybe I can find that boy!_" Rosie thought to herself, as she looked out the living room window, into the backyard, waiting for the right moment, when nobody was looking, to escape to his yard again.

And this, ends chapter 2. So, what will happen next? Well, you'll have to wait until the next chapter, to find out, so please, do stay tuned! And to those of you who have followed, favorite, and reviewed this story so far, I thank each and every one of you, and I hope you continue to enjoy the story, as it progresses!


	3. Overdoing it

Author's Note: Due to some of the events that are about to take place in this chapter, I advise anybody reading this, to either not eat while reading, or, finish your food before reading this chapter, you'll see why once you've read the chapter, so, let's get started!

Chapter 3, Overdoing it

On the morning after Rosie's sister Mary and father Terry had left for home, her mommy wasn't all that up for fixing breakfast, and on the way back from the airport the previous day, she had spotted a little coffee shop called The Java Lava, so decided to scoop up Rosie, and go check it out! Rosie wasn't all that interested in going, as she knew it would be boring, having to sit in her booster seat the whole time, not doing anything, plus, she didn't particularly care much for the smell of coffee, so this trip didn't excite her in the least, she'd rather be left unattended to go see that little boy again, but every time she tried to escape the previous day, seems her mommy would call her back to the house, or it was nap time.

When they arrived at the coffee shop, they went inside and were greeted by a Japanese looking woman with dark hair and glasses behind the counter.

"Good morning and welcome to the Java Lava. My name is Kira Finster, how can I help you?" Asked Kira to Shannon and Rosie who had walked in.

Shannon took a minute to browse through the menu that was tacked up on the wall behind the counter, before making up her mind.

"Yes, Kira, I'd like a mint frappachino and a breakfast barito, and for my daughter, could you get for her a blueberry muffin, a small scoop of vanilla yogurt, and a small grape juice?" Asked Shannon.

"Sure! Your order however will take a few minutes, why don't you let your daughter go play in our special play area." Said Kira with a smile, as she pointed to a playpen area in the back corner of the shop, where Chuckie and Kimi were playing.

"Would you like to go play in the play area until breakfast is ready sweetie?" Shannon asked Rosie.

Rosie nodded her head and smiled, finally, somebody her age to play with. Upon receiving her positive response, Shannon led her daughter over to the playpen and put her in with the other kids.

"Now you be good and play nicely, and I'll be back to get you as soon as our breakfast is ready." Said Shannon with a smile, as she kissed the top of Rosie's head and found a table, where she sat down and looked at a book she had brought with her while waiting for her breakfast.

Rosie turned to see two toddlers staring at her. One of them, had dark hair, and looked a lot like the nice lady who took their order, while the other one, had long messy red hair, freckles, and wore a pair of purple square rimmed glasses.

"Hi, my name's Rosie!" Said Rosie with a smile.

"I'm Kimi, and this is my olderer brother Chuckie!" Said Kimi with a smile.

"It's nice to meet you Kimi, and you too Chuckie!" Said Rosie with a smile, as she shook Kimi's hand. When she went to shake Chuckie's hand, he turned away and frowned.

"What's wrong with Chuckie?" Rosie asked.

"He's kind of shy." Kimi replied.

"I am not." Chuckie snapped, as he took a seat on the floor in the corner of the playpen, letting out a huge sigh, the frown not leaving his face, as he stared up at a picture on the wall that had several toddlers in it, including him, his sister, and Kira, as it was a picture that was taken well over a year ago, when the Java Lava first opened.

"What's wrong Chuckie?" Kimi asked in a quieter tone, going up closer to her brother.

"Oh nothing, I guess I just miss Tommy." Chuckie replied with a sad tone in his voice.

"Don't worry Chuckie, Tommy will be better soon, and then we can play together all the time." Said Kimi with a smile.

"Pardon me, but who's Tommy?" Rosie asked.

"Tommy's my bestest friend, and that's him in that picture up there." Said Chuckie, pointing to a bald barefooted baby in the picture, wearing a light blue t-shirt and diaper.

Rosie turned to look at where Chuckie was pointing. No sooner had she looked at the picture, when she noticed something. The face, it looked familiar, but where had she seen it before? Then, all of the sudden, images of the purple haired two-year-old were flashing in her mind. It then hit her, that this baby's face resembled the face of the toddler with purple hair, but it couldn't be him, as this child was bald. What Rosie didn't know though, was it was indeed him, but it was him well over a year ago, when the coffee shop opened, before he started to grow hair. Figuring her imagination was playing tricks on her, she turned her gaze away from the picture, back towards Chuckie and Kimi.

"Sorry about your friend, what's wrong with him?" Rosie asked out of curiosity.

"He's sick." Chuckie replied.

"Awe, well I'm sure he'll be better soon, maybe you could make him a nice picture to help him feel better." Suggested Rosie.

"Hey, that's a great idea! I could make him a get well card, just like I did when he gotted sick with the Gray Plague, and when he gotted his firstest splinter and his firstest wasp sting." Said Chuckie.

"And look! Mommy lefted us some paper and crayons!" Said Kimi excitedly, as she picked up a box of crayons and a pad of paper off of the floor of the play area.

"Wow! I take it this Tommy person has had quite the year of terrible two's!" Said Rosie.

"Yeah, as a matter of fact, he is two, and has had quite a terrible time with it. Of course, when I was two, my life wasn't so easy either, from getting potty trained, to a monster under my bed, and almost getting sucked down the drain. Of course, Tommy's always getting us into trouble on all of his scary adventures. I keep telling him it's not such a good idea, but nobody listens to me. But I wouldn't have it any other way. He may cause me to get my head stuck in a tree sometimes, but he's always there when I need him." Said Chuckie, as he picked up a crayon and started drawing on a piece of paper.

"Wow!" Said Rosie with a smile, as she picked up a red crayon, and decided to draw a picture, which she'd give to either her big sister Mary, or maybe her best friend Hazel, as she missed them terribly, and she thought they might like some drawings she did, since despite being two, and not having all of her motor skills yet, because of how young she was, she was a pretty good drawer of simple pictures, as she had watched her sister do it several times.

"Rosie, it's time for breakfast sweetie." Said Shannon, as she approached the play area, to find all of the kids drawing pictures.

"Awe, isn't that cute!" Shannon exclaimed, as she scooped up Rosie, and took her over to a booster seat at their table, where she was placed, and Rosie happily ate her muffin.

Meanwhile, Tommy was having a terrible time. A couple of days after going to visit the doctor's, he started to develop a terrible cough. While it mostly stemmed from the gunk in his nose, dripping down the back of his throat, which wasn't nearly as soar, it sure was soar after he had these massive coughing fits. Stu and Didi tried to give him some cough medicine, but that didn't seem to help either. Tommy continued to cough, and not only that, but it was worse at night or at nap time. And one night, it was so bad, that he threw up all over the sheets and the carpet, causing Stu and Didi to have a major mess to clean up, and on top of this, because he and Dil shared a room, Dil wasn't getting much sleep either, because Tommy's coughing was keeping him awake.

Finally, Didi heard back from the doctor's, after the throat culture had a few more days to grow, and Strep never developed. Sadly, this meant Tommy had a virus, and there was no telling when it would go away. Seeing he was coughing a lot, it wasn't gone yet, and poor Tommy was starting to grow impatient and cranky.

"I'm sick of being sick!" Tommy snapped one day, as he kicked his Reptar doll across the playpen, nearly hitting Dil in the head.

"Ow! That hurt!" Cried Dil.

"Sorry Dil, but I can't take it anymore! I wanna sleep again, I want this cough to go away, and mostest importantly, I wanna go outside on adventures again and play with my friends!" Yelled Tommy at the top of his lungs, before he started to have another coughing fit.

Dil just looked at him, unsure of what to do at this point. He wasn't too happy with Tommy's attitude, even though he couldn't blame him for being cranky and not wanting to be sick no more, but he was all out of ideas. So he ventured out of the playpen, leaving Tommy to himself, only to discover the entertainment center on the other side of the room. Even Dil was starting to grow bored, and wouldn't mind their friends coming to play again, but since they couldn't, and since he wasn't sick, he'd make the best of it. Then, he thought he might watch a movie, but nobody was around to help him put it on, and he didn't feel like crying for his mommy or daddy, and he knew his daddy was busy downstairs, so he decided to help himself. He got down a DVD box, and opened it, but he wasn't coordinated enough to get the DVD out of the box by pressing down on the circle in the middle with one hand, and pulling up with the other, so he went to the next best thing.

"_Tapes! I'll watch a tape!_" Dil thought to himself, as he picked up an audio tape lying next to the VCR, and stuck it in the slot where the tape goes. But what Dil failed to pay attention to was that he stuck an audio tape into the VCR, not a video tape, and because the VCR was empty at the time, the tape went down into the slot where the video tape goes, getting lodged in the machine, making it impossible to get out.

When nothing came on the TV, Dil finally couldn't take it anymore, and started to cry. Stu and Didi came running, to see what was wrong. They found the open DVD box on the floor, and were about to put it on for him, when they saw it was of a movie a bit too mature for either of the kids to be watching, as it was for the Men and Trees movie that she and Stu had rented a few days ago from Netflicks. So she found a Dummy Bears video to put on, only when she stuck it into the VCR, she found it wouldn't go into the machine.

"Uh, Stu? Something's wrong with the VCR." Said Didi.

"Let me take a look at that." Stu grumbled, as he shined a flashlight into the slot of the tape machine, to find the audio tape Dil had put in there.

"Dil, did you do this?" Stu asked in a loud tone of voice.

"Audio tapes do not go in the VCR, and, you're not suppose to touch it!" Stu continued to shout.

"Now Stu, Dil doesn't know any better." Said Didi.

"Now I'm gonna have to take this machine apart and get the tape out." Stu said with a sigh, as he started untangling wires and getting the DVD VCR combo unit out of its slot, so he could take it into the kitchen or down to his workshop to try to fix it.

"Now Stu, just get the tape out of there, and don't try to do anything, inappropriate with it." Said Didi.

"Don't worry Didi, I'll have this fixed in no time." Said Stu with a grin.

For once, he managed to get the audio tape out of the VCR, without blowing up the house, and got everything hooked back up, and this time, a huge wooden bored was placed up in front of the shelf where the combo unit lived, so a certain couple of toddlers couldn't play with it, as they were surprised Tommy hadn't done this sooner, seeing he was known for getting into trouble.

Finally, a week had passed since Tommy fell ill with his virus, and Rosie's family had arrived. On this particular day, Shannon didn't have anything she had to do, as they had most of the items in her mother's house either sold, or packed up to be shipped off to her home in Boston, or to other relatives of theirs that lived around the country in various places. They had family in Colorado, Florida, Louisiana and Connecticut, ranging from several aunts, uncles and cousins, all interested in something from Shannon's parents, so she got together the items, and shipped them to the right places, and any furniture, she was seeing to making arrangements to have some truckers come pick the stuff up over the weekend, to take stuff away, before the realter company came to inspect the place, before she and Rosie would head home the following Sunday. She had also looked into finding a home for her mother's dog, which wasn't easy since the dog was a visious monster at times, but a man down the street named Mr. Fillabaster seemed interested in him, as his poodle Cuddles had recently died, and he was looking for a new pet to replace her.

Once Mr. Filabaster had come by and picked up the puppy dog, her plate was clear for the day, and Rosie was starting to get ancy, so she decided to take her to the park. Meanwhile, Laura Barrow couldn't take off anymore time from work, so she gave Didi a call that morning, to see if she could return to daycare duty. Didi had recently taken Tommy's temperature, and while Tommy was still coughing a lot at night, and quite tired, his temperature was back to normal, so she agreed to take the kids again. The Finsters, Devilles, Wehrenbergs and Barrows all showed up that morning at Tommy and Dil's house, and dropped everyone off. Seems things were getting back to normal, or were they?

After the kids had all arrived, Stu thought it might be a good idea to take all of the kids to the park, as he had a major deadline to reach on an invention he was working on, and could really use some peace and quiet.

"Come on Didi, please?" Stu pleaded.

"I don't know Stu, I guess I can take the kids, but I seriously think Tommy should stay here." Said Didi.

Tommy didn't like the sound of this. If his little playmates could come over, then why couldn't he go to the park? Tommy proceeded to pick up a bucket and shovel, and look out the window.

"Come on Didi, the fresh air will do our little champ some good, and look, I think he wants to go too." Said Stu.

"Well all right, come on kids, let's go." Said Didi, as she rounded everybody up, got everyone situated in the Reptar wagon, and started down the sidewalk towards the park.

Once at the park, Didi found a nice grassy spot for the kids to play, then found a bench nearby, sat down, and started looking at one of her Lipchitz books, getting completely lost in her own little world as usual, leaving the kids to play, but since they were at the park, she figured they couldn't get into too much trouble, since she was near the playground.

Over in the Reptar wagon, Chuckie turned to Tommy.

"So, how are you feeling Tommy?" Chuckie asked.

"I'm better, but I can't seem to sleep at night no more." Tommy replied.

"Yeah, I can't either." Added Dil.

"Well, in that case, who's up for an adventure?" Zack asked, scooting up to the front of the wagon.

"I haven't gotten to go on an adventure in forever! Come on guys, let's pretend Zack is Nigel Strawberry and we're jungle explorers." Said Tommy.

"That's a great idea! And the wagon can be our jungle safari car! Let's go guys." Said Zack, as he started to pull the Reptar wagon through the park.

But while Tommy had been doing pretty well up to this point, things took a turn for the worst on their adventure. As Zack pulled the wagon through the park, Tommy started to have another coughing fit, and started to feel nauseous.

"No worries guys, we're almost there, we've just gots to make it over that hill." Said Zack, as he approached one of the hills in the park, known by Angelica and some of the other older kids as Big Kid Mountain.

No sooner had they stopped, when they heard Tommy let out a loud moan.

"What's wrong Tommy?" Chuckie asked.

But before Tommy could respond, he proceeded to cover his mouth with his hands, as he could feel himself starting to throw up.

"Oh no guys, I think Tommy's gonna throw up!" Cried Phil.

"Oh no!" Added Lil.

"Now my brother's gots jungle feaver, but I didn't think throwing up was one of the symptoms." Said Dil.

"Guys, we've gots to help him." Said Zack.

"Yeah, let's go!" Said Jesse.

But Tommy couldn't stifle it any longer. He leaned over the side of the Reptar wagon, thankful he was on the outside edge, and not in between two of his friends, and tossed his cookies all over the ground, leaving a trail of throw up to drip down the side of the Reptar wagon on to the grass. And to make things worse, smelling it, only made him throw up more.

The rest of the toddlers all had to turn their heads away, as just the sight of it was making them come close to throwing up.

"Somebody's gotta go get Tommy's mommy!" Chuckie cried.

"But how?" Phil asked.

"Yeah! We've gotta go through the yucky stuff to get to her!" Lil added.

What they didn't realize, was that they had a pink haired angel, about to come to their rescue. By this time, Rosie and her mommy had arrived at the park. Shannon had sat down on the bench next to Didi, after getting Rosie settled in a nearby sandbox, where she started to build a sandcastle, when she overheard several toddlers in the distance, and recognized the sound of Chuckie's voice. Curious, she decided to go investigate. As she got closer, she spotted the purple haired boy in the green wagon, and what appeared to be Reptar's head on one end, and his tail on the other. Then, she noticed what was going on. The boy of her dreams was throwing up, and from what she overheard of the conversation, it sounded like the other toddlers were too scared to go get this child's mommy, because they'd have to go past the pile of throw up to get to her, and just the sight of it was making them queezy. Then, suddenly, Rosie started to feel queezy too when she spotted it, so she turned around as fast as she could, and ran over to where her mommy was sitting. When she got there, she recognized the lady who was sitting next to her, as it was the same lady with strawberry red hair she saw talking on the telephone in that house she peered into a few days ago.

"So, what do you and Terry do for a living?" Didi asked.

"Well, my husband works in real estate, while I'm an interior decorater." Replied Shannon.

"Oh how lovely!" Said Didi with interest.

No sooner had she made her comment, when she looked down, to see a two-year-old toddler with pink hair, tugging at her dress.

"And who's this little girl?" Didi asked.

"Oh, that's my daughter Rosie. Rosie, this is Didi Pickles, she's a nearby neighbor of grandma's." Said Shannon, smiling down at Rosie.

Rosie then started to do a little dance, and pointed in the opposite direction.

"Is something wrong sweetie?" Shannon asked.

Rosie nodded.

"What is it sweetie?" Shannon asked.

Rosie continued to point and walk around, acting as if she wanted to get her mommy and Didi to follow her to the scene of the incident.

"I think Rosie wants us to follow her, come on, we'd better go see what's up. She probably just wants to show us a bird or a butterfly or something, she's always finding critters back home that she wants to show me." Said Shannon, as she and Didi got up and followed Rosie to the Reptar wagon, where Tommy continued to cough and throw up, and the other toddlers had their backs turned, holding their noses by this point.

"Oh dear!" Cried Didi, as she went over to her son, and scooped Tommy up.

"Has your son been sick?" Shannon asked.

"Yeah, I'm afraid so, and looks like we spoke too soon. I thought he was all better this morning. He ate his breakfast, his temperature was back to normal, oh, goodness sweetie, I'm so sorry, let's go get you all cleaned up." Said Didi, as she got some baby wipes out of a diaper bag, and started to clean Tommy up, at least enough so they could take him into the little bathroom they had at the park, and get him completely cleaned up, so as he wouldn't make anymore of a mess than he already had, or continue to throw up.

While Didi cleaned up Tommy, Shannon took another set of wipes, and started cleaning up the Reptar wagon, and got the kids into the grass along with Rosie, while she got the wagon all cleaned up, and made sure none of the other kids were covered in vomit.

"Hi Chuckie, hi Kimi." Said Rosie with a smile.

"Hi." Said Chuckie with a small smile, still a bit queezy and nervous from all he had witnessed that morning.

"Hi Rosie, wanna play?" Kimi asked.

"Sure!" Replied Rosie with a smile.

"Everyone, this is Rosie, me and Chuckie metted her at our mommy and daddy's coffee shop. Rosie, meet Phil, Lil, Zack, Jesse, and Dil." Said Kimi, pointing to each of the other toddlers, as she said their names.

"Nice to meet you all! You guys like to play in the sandbox?" Rosie asked.

"Do we ever!" Jesse said excitedly.

"Ok, let's go!" Said Rosie, as she led the group over to the sandbox where she was playing before she heard their cries for help.

While they played in the sand, all of the toddlers took turns, explaining to Rosie what all went down, and Rosie told them that when she heard their cries for help, she decided to go get her mommy, and turns out she got their mommy too.

"Actually, that's me and Tommy's mommy." Said Dil, correcting Rosie, who thought that lady was all of them's mommy.

"Oh, so the boy with the purple hair is Tommy? Is he the same Tommy in that picture at your mommy's coffee shop Chuckie?" Rosie asked.

"Uh huh?" Chuckie replied.

"But, but, he looks so different in that picture!" Said Rosie.

"What do you mean?" Chuckie asked.

"In the picture, he's gots no hairs, but here, he's gots lots of hairs." Said Rosie.

"Oh, that's cuz that picture was taken when my mommy and daddy first opened the place, and he didn't have no hairs yet." Explained Chuckie.

"Yeah, he started getting hairs after his second birthday, right Chuckie?" Kimi asked.

Chuckie nodded.

"Yeah, around the time we met." Added Zack.

"Yep, same here." Added Jesse.

No sooner had Jesse made his comment, when Shannon and Didi returned, with a clean Reptar wagon, and Tommy, now smelling of lavender soap, and drinking some ginger ale out of a sippy cup that Shannon had in the back of her rental car, as she kept the car after Terry and Marry headed home, to help her get things done a bit more easily around town.

"You know Didi, it might be a good idea if your son road with me, as I can go slowly, avoiding bumps so your son doesn't throw up. From what I gathered, you live close to where we're staying, right?" Shannon asked.

"Well, I suppose so." Said Didi.

This had Rosie quite excited, as thinking the family would need two car seats for their kids, the rental place gave them two car seats, when they only needed one, because Mary was too big for a car seat, but they left both of them in the car anyway, as they never knew when one might come in handy, and now, Shannon was glad she did that. So Didi rounded up the other kids in the "Reptar wagon, and led the way out of the park to where Shannon's car was, at which point, she got Tommy and Rosie strapped into their car seats, and the three of them, followed the Reptar wagon, back to Tommy and Dil's house.

On the way there, Tommy continued to sip on his ginger ale, looking out the window every so often, with a sad expression on his face, as his day of fun and adventures was ruined, he didn't feel good, and was growing tired of this. Then, he turned towards Rosie, who was on the other side of the car to his right, and realized who he was looking at. It was the same little girl he had seen a week ago, on the day he got sick. The one he couldn't stop staring at. If he felt better, he was going to ask her for her name, but he didhn't feel much up to talking, but while he didn't feel like saying much of anything, he did enjoy looking at her, so he continued to stare at the girl, trying to relax, hoping this was a sign that everything was going to be ok.

Meanwhile, Rosie noticed Tommy looking at her with a smile on his face, so she smiled too. At first, she thought this would be the perfect opportunity to say something, and then she remembered a time when her big sister had one of those bugs where throwing up was the main symptom. Seems along with constantly throwing up, a snappy attitude came along with it, as seemed every word out of her sister's mouth during that time of illness was everything but nice. While Rosie really wanted to get to know this Tommy person, she didn't want her first impression of him to be a bad one, if he was indeed, in a cranky mood, or heaven for bid, he'd start to feel sick of his stomach while they were driving, she didn't wish to make him throw up. So she just stared at him and smiled, hoping he'd be better really soon, and before she and her mommy had to head home.

Before they knew it, they were turning into a driveway at a nice looking orange pinkish house. By the time they got there, Didi had taken the other toddlers inside, and called everyone's parents to come pick them up. Shannon got Tommy and Rosie out of the car, and walked Tommy up to the front door, and let Rosie ring the doorbell. Didi answered the door.

"Well, we made it here in one piece, and seems Tommy and Rosie are becoming fast friends. They hardly made a peep, but I caught a glimpse of them through the rear view mirror, and they seemed to enjoy each other's company." Explained Shannon, as she handed Tommy over to Didi, who was still holding his sippy cup, still half full of ginger ale.

"What about the ginger ale, did he drink any of it on the ride back?" Didi asked.

"He sure did, and we made it back here without any issues." Said Shannon.

"Well that's good." Said Didi, as she walked towards the kitchen, and got Tommy situated in a chair at the kitchen table, so he could drink some more of his ginger ale, but in a room where a spill would be easier to clean up.

"Listen, I hope you don't mind my asking, but it seems you're the main daycare person around here, I was wondering if you could do me a huge favor." Said Shannon.

"What is it?" Didi asked.

"Well, Saturday is our last day here, and I'm having some people come over to look at my late mother's house, and it might be easier if I had somebody watching Rosie for the day while I saw to this. Would it be ok if she came over here to play? I completely understand if you say no, seeing your oldest seems to still be sick." Shannon asked.

"Not at all, I may have them play quietly, or as quietly as we can keep it around here, but I have no problem watching Rosie on Saturday. My brother-in-law and his wife have to go out of town on a business trip this weekend, so we'll be looking after our four-year-old niece, but one more won't hurt." Said Didi.

"I assure you Didi, it will only be during the day." Said Shannon.

"Well, it's settled then, we'll see you Saturday!" Said Didi excitedly, as she walked Shannon and Rosie to the door.

Rosie beamed at the sound of this news. Finally, a whole day with Tommy, and hopefully, he'd be feeling better by then, and they'd finally get to know one another a bit better.

And this, ends chapter 3. So, how will the playdate go? You'll have to wait, until the next chapter to find out!


	4. The Unexpected Surprise

Author's Note: My sincerest apologies for not getting this chapter uploaded sooner, between school being hectic, having school yesterday, and being too exhausted to stay awake late last night, well, things got delayed. But no worries, chapter 4 is about to commence, and, you're all in, for an unexpected surprise, so, let's get started!

Chapter 4, The Unexpected Surprise

The rest of that day was more or less, uneventful for the toddlers. Rosie and her mommy went back to her late grandmother's house, where she took a nap. However, while the rest of Rosie's day was quiet, in the back of her mind, she was quite worried about Tommy, and she only hoped he would be ok. For Tommy, after he finished his ginger ale, Didi put him down for a nap, and he more or less, slept until dinner time, at which time he had a light dinner of some soup and crackers, just to play it on the safe side, that he wasn't getting a stomach bug on top of this virus. He was relieved when he didn't throw up his dinner, but while he had a long nap that afternoon, he still felt tired that night, and this only made him fussy and cranky. So Stu and Didi got him to bed early, and Tommy fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.

The next morning, he awoke, feeling slightly better, hoping that what went down yesterday was simply nothing, and that he'd go back to normal today. He and Dil went downstairs early, as Tommy, while he was feeling better, he was craving some milk, but their parents had not come down yet, so Tommy got Dil, to try to help him get it himself. Noticing the dispenser on the refridgerater, where he thought the food and drinks came out of, he got Dil to help him up, by standing on top of Dil with an empty sippy cup that he found in the playpen, removed the sippy top, and pressed one of the buttons on the fridge. Then, he put the cup up to the dispenser, only instead of milk, it was water that came out.

"Did you gets the milk Tommy?" Dil asked.

"Nope, I gotted water." Tommy replied.

But Dil couldn't stand to have Tommy standing on his back anymore, so he started wiggling, causing Tommy to topple off of him on to the kitchen floor, sending the sippy cup of water flying across the room, spilling water everywhere. At that moment, a sleepy Stu and Didi, still in their robe and pajamas, walked into the kitchen, to discover their kids and the mess.

Sighing, Didi got the mess cleaned up, while Stu explained to his boys, that the refridgerater was not a toy. Of course, they were only haf paying attention, as Didi got everybody situated for breakfast, and gave Dil some oatmeal and Tommy a bowl of Reptar cerial, since he seemed, more or less, back to normal. While they were eating, the doorbell rang.

"Who could that be?" Didi asked, as it was still quite early in the morning. She went to the door and answered it, to find Peter standing there.

"Peter! How nice to see you!" Said Didi with a smile.

"It's nice to see you too." Said Peter with a grin, as he walked into the living room, and sat down in an easy chair.

"What's been going on with you?" Didi asked.

{Peter went on to explain that he had been quite sick, with a terrible virus, that in the end, turned into a sinus infection. Didi then told him that they weren't having an easy time of it either, as Tommy had been quite sick, and it was only in the last couple of days, that he had gained his appetite back, starting to eat more.

After breakfast, Tommy and Dil headed into the living room, where they spotted Peter. They were so excited to see him, that they toddled over to him, and climbed in his lap.

"Hey Tommy, I hear you haven't been feeling too well. How you doing?" Peter asked.

"I'm better, but I'm still tired lots of the time." Tommy replied.

"I've been sick too, that's why I haven't been over to play or babysit lately." Peter replied.

"Are you better now?" Dil asked.

Peter nodded with a smile.

"Glad you're all better Peter." Said Tommy.

"Me too. And to celebrate, I thought we could spend a day together at the park!" Said Peter.

Didi overheard this and came into the living room.

"That's fine, but if Tommy or Dil starts to show signs of being tired, or not feeling well, bbring them home right away. And I don't want Tommy skipping his nap, he needs to take at least one nap today, since he's been sick." Explained Didi.

"Don't worry Didi, I'll make sure he takes his nap." Said Peter, as he got together a bag with some of Tommy's toys, a blanket, and a pillow, figuring if worse came to worse, Tommy could always take a nap at the park.

Stu and Didi were fine with Peter taking them for the day, as Stu had his inventor's support group meeting, and Didi had a three hour class out at the college, and some Aarons to run, so they were on their way, while Peter put Tommy and Dil in their double stroller, and walked to the park.

Meanwhile, Shannon and Rosie had another day empty of plans, as it was Friday, one day before the day the truckers and realter would be coming to the house, so they decided to spend another day at the park. Also on this day, Aunty Celeste had charge of her nephew Zack, as well as his friend, Jesse Barrow, and she took part of the day off of work, so she took the boys to the park, only to find Betty there with Phil and Lil, and Kira there with Chuckie and Kimi. After getting to the park, the grown ups all went and found a bench, where they started talking, while the toddlers all went off to play.

After Peter arrived at the park with Tommy and Dil, he spotted Celeste, Kira, and Betty on a bench, so went and joined them, after getting Tommy and Dil settled in the grass with some toys. Dil was looking at a Goober board book, while Tommy was playing with one of those shape in the whole toys, trying to get the different shapes in the wholes, when he and Dil overheard the familiar voices of their friends in the distance.

"Come on Dilly, let's go see what everyone is up to." Suggested Tommy, as he got up from his spot in the grass, Dil following behind him, as they caught up to all of their friends, gathered around a trampaleen.

A little while later, Shannon got Rosie settled, and went to join Peter and the others on the bench. She recognized a bunch of the kids, but didn't recognize these grown ups, as she had not met their parents and guardians yet, with the exception of Kira, as she was the same lady that took her order at the coffee shop the other day.

"Hi Shannon, nice to see you again." Said Kira with a smile, as Shannon took a seat on one end of the bench, to watch her daughter play.

"Nice to see you too." Said Shannon.

"These are some friends of ours, this is Zack's aunt Celeste, Phil and Lil's mom Betty, and our good friend Peter, who I assuming is babysitting Tommy and Dil today." Said Kira.

"Yep, sure am." Said Peter with a smile.

"And I have charge of Jesse today, while his parents go to work." Said Celeste.

"It's nice to meet you all." Said Shannon.

While the grown ups were talking, Rosie, unaware that her friends were playing together, found a spot on the grass, to practice her backwards summersalt. Her best friend Hazel back home, had perfected this at only fifteen-months-old, and here was Rosie, age two, and still having trouble with them. So she decided to practice it, hoping to be really good at them by the time she went home, showing Hazel what she worked on while on her trip. While Rosie started practicing, Tommy and Dil headed over to the trampaleen, where their friends were gathered.

"Hey Tommy!" Said Chuckie.

"Hey Chuckie." Said Tommy.

"Hey! Check this out! It's really neat!" Said Phil, as he jumped up and down on the trampaleen.

"Not for me Phil, it sounds too scary.

"Hey! It's my turn to jump on the trampaleen." Said Lil, climbing up there with her brother.

"No, it's my turn!" Argued Phil.

"No mine!" Argued Lil.

"Wait a minute guys, since Tommy and Dil are here, shouldn't they get a turn?" Zack suggested.

"Yeah!" Said Kimi, agreeing with him.

"Hey guys, come check this out!" Said Jesse excitedly, as he joined Phil and Lil on the trampaleen, nearly knocking them off.

"That sounds like fun!" Said Dil, as he climbed up there, and took his turn jumping up and down, giggling while he bounced.

After a few minutes, he got down, making way for the next person.

"Ok, let's go play on the jungle gym now." Suggested Kimi.

"Wait, Tommy hasn't had a turn yet." Said Chuckie.

"Come on up bro, it's fun!" Said Dil, as he grabbed Tommy's hand, and drug him over to the trampaleen.

Tommy climbed up on the trampaleen, but no sooner had he climbed up there, when he spotted Rosie across the way in the grass. He stopped dead in his tracks, as he stood on the trampaleen, completely still, his gaze on Rosie in the distance.

"Well come on Tommy, start jumping already!" Said Jesse impatiently.

Tommy's gaze drifted towards the impatient dark haired two-year-old, and then, back to Rosie. He couldn't stop staring at Rosie, and found he wasn't interested in playing on the trampaleen anymore.

"Uh guys, I don't wanna play on the trampaleen no more." Said Tommy, as he climbed down on the ground, and took a seat on a nearby bench.

"Are you ok Tommy?" Chuckie asked, concerned.

"Don't worry Chuckie I'm fine. I guess I'm just, kind of tired." Said Tommy, as he let out a huge yawn, his eyes drooping nearly shut.

He was still finding he tired out faster than the rest of them, ever since he got sick, and it was obviously settling in.

"Are you gonna throw up Tommy?" Phil asked.

"No Phil." Tommy replied, annoyed.

"Come on guys, I think Tommy just wants to be alone right now. Let's go play on the jungle gym, and, we'll come check on him later." Said Zack, as he led the other toddlers to the jungle gym, Dil bringing up the rear of the line.

Tommy, feeling too tired to keep his eyes open, was about to doze on the bench, when once again, he caught Rosie out of the corner of his eye. He saw her, trying to attempt a backwards summersalt, something even he hadn't attempted yet, even though he could do forward summersalts pretty well, and even told his friends he could do one with his eyes closed, back when they all gave his little brother an initiation a while back.

Rosie, starting to grow frustrated with her failed attempts to do the backwards summersalt, sat down in the grass, about ready to cry, when she spotted Tommy in the distance, on the bench, his eyes nearly shut, but staring at her. Something inside her told her, she shouldn't give up just yet, not if her special boy was watching her, so she decided to try again, only to get stuck when her feet got into the air, as she was about to tumble on to the top of her head, causing her body to collapse to the ground, causing her to stare up at the clouds in the sky.

Tommy saw all of this go down, and as tired as he was, he could see this little girl needed help, so he got down from the bench, and approached her. Just as Rosie was about to try again, her feet were in the air, when Tommy was inches away from her. Her feet kicked Tommy in the face. This caused Tommy to tumble on top of Rosie, who did her backwards summersalt, Tommy, doing a forward summersalt, the two of them, now lying at the top of a grassy hill, Rosie on her stomach, while Tommy was lying on his back. Feeling tired, Tommy rolled over, bumping Rosie, who started to roll down the grassy hill, Tommy rolling down after her, till the two of them, landed in a slimy mud puddle at the bottom.

Upon landing in the mud puddle, Tommy became fully alert again, as Rosie sat up, and threw a handful of mud in his face.

"Hey! What's the big idea?" Tommy said playfully, as he removed the mud from his face, leaving a little bit beneath his nose, making him look like he had a muddy muchstash, flinging another glob of Mud at Rosie.

"I don't know, but you've got mud for a muchstash!" Said Rosie, as she placed a glob of mud in her hair.

"And you've gots a muddy head." Said Tommy, noticing the mud in Rosie's hair.

The two of them continued to have a fight in the mud, giggling and playing together, unaware that all of Tommy's friends were standing around them at this point, watching what was going on.

"Wow! And I didn't think Tommy liked mud that much." Said Phil.

Usually, the most Tommy would get muddy would be his gfeet, unless he fell in the mud by accident.

"I think they're nuts." Said Lil.

"Nah you guys, I think Tommy and Rosie are in love." Said Chuckie.

"What makes you say that Chuckie?" Phil asked.

"Well just look at them you guys, they're acting just as I did when I was with Megan and Emma." Said Chuckie.

"Megan and Emma?" Kimi asked, confused.

Chuckie went on to tell his sister about the two little girls he had crushes on before they ever went to Paris. One of them showed his effection for him by poking him and pushing him down, not accepting the usual favors of candy and flowers, but proclaiming she did those things because she liked him. While it sounded strange, he started to like it too, so he and Megan spent the whole day together, only to have her go off to another boy the next day, leaving Chuckie very sad. Then later, he met another special girl, only she had a mean, overprotective brother, which Tommy, Phil and Lil got off their backs, so the two of them could be alone, and in the end, because he had saved this little girl from some ants in a whole they were hiding in from her older brother, he got to play with her the rest of the day.

Back in the mud puddle, Tommy and Rosie were starting to get tired of playing in the mud.

"This is fun, but I'd like to go play something else now." Said Rosie.

"Sure! What do you wanna play?" Tommy asked.

"Let's go get a drink, and a bath, I'm thirsty and muddy." Said Rosie, as she stood up in the grass, Tommy joining next to her.

"I know where there's a water fountain, come on!" Said Tommy, as the two of them grabbed on to one another's muddy hands, and ran towards the water fountain.

While on the way there, they introduced themselves to one another.

"So, what's your name?" Tommy asked.

"I'm Rosie." Said Rosie with a smile, turning to gaze into Tommy's eyes.

"I'm Tommy." Said Tommy with a grin, as he gazed back at Rosie, before turning his attention back towards leading them to the water fountain.

"Here we are Rosie." Said Tommy, as they approached the water fountain.

They splashed one another with the water, as they cleaned themselves of mud, and took sips, to clinch their thirst. By this time, the other toddlers had lost interest in Tommy and Rosie, going off to play on the jungle gym, leaving Tommy and Rosie to be alone. Once the two love birds were cleaned up, they strolled through the park, holding on to one another's hands, getting to know one another.

"So Tommy, how did you get purple hairs?" Rosie asked.

"Well, my daddy's gots purple hairs, so I figured I gotted them from him. How did you get pink hairs Rosie?" Tommy asked.

"Well, it was a accident. I have a big sister named Mary, and one day, when I was really little, back when my hairs was still blond, she and daddy had been painting the bathroom pink. Later, when they were taking a break, my sister wanted to wash my hair, but she couldn't find the shampoo, so she used the pink paint to paint the wall to wash my hair. This turndid my hair pink, and while my mommy tried to wash it out a bunch of times, it never came out, making my hair pink." Explained Rosie.

"Oh wow Rosie, I'm very sorry." Said Tommy.

"It's ok, I actually like it! I think it's prettiful, and so does my mommy! She says it makes me look just like a little rose." Said Rosie.

"What do your mommy and daddy do anyways?" Tommy asked.

"Well, my daddy sells houses, and my mommy makes the insides of them all prettyful. What do your mommy and daddy do?" Rosie asked.

"My daddy invents stuff, like toys for me and my brother Dilly to play with, and my mommy teachers big kids how to change babies diapies. My mommy also goes to school, I guess to learn how to teacher them to do other stuff too. And I went with her one time, and founded her an A, cuz if you don't gots an A in school, you cry." Said Tommy.

"Oh wow, interesting. I'll remember that when I'm all growed up and start going to school." Said Rosie.

As they continued to walk through the park, and play together on a seasaw, Tommy told her of all of his adventures.

"Wow! That's amazing! You've been locked in a toy store, gone all the way around the world to flush the flusher on a giant potty, taken Reptar his baby on Reptar on Ice, flew your house as an airplane through the clouds, were chased by monkeys in a forrest, where you found the lizard to get you back home, and been to Paris? That's awesome! I wish I could have been there for all of those aventures, those sound like fun! You're the most amazing baby I've ever metted!" Said Rosie excitedly.

"Well, like I always say, a baby's gotta do what a baby's gotta do." Said Tommy with a smile, gazing into Rosie's eyes.

"Well, I've been to Winter Wonderland!" Said Rosie.

"Really? I thought that was only a song that growed ups sing at Christmas time." Said Tommy.

"No, it's real!" Said Rosie.

She went on to explain to Tommy about her friend Courtney, who could take her friends to this magical winter wonderland. She even told of the time when they went to the evil version, which was covered in black snow, and the only way they got home, is by feeding the evil queen warm bottles of milk, which put her to sleep, so she couldn't harm them no more.

"Yeah I know what it's like to feed mean peoples stuff to get them to leave you alone. I'm always having to get my cousin Angelica cookies. One time, she made us think my doggy Spike could talk, just to get us to get her cookies." Explained Tommy.

"Wow! That's not very nice." Said Rosie.

"Yeah, but now that she goes to preschool, we don't have to worry about her so much anymore." Said Tommy.

"Well that's good. If I were you, I'd probably wish something very bad on her." Said Rosie.

"Oh you don't wanna do that. You could turn the person into a statue, and get in lots of trouble." Said Tommy.

"Oh wow!" Said Rosie, as the two of them ran through a patch of flowers, picking dandelions, till they found a swing.

"Wanna go on the swing Tommy?" Rosie asked, pointing to the wooden swing.

"Sure!" Said Tommy, as he climbed on the swing, and Rosie started pushing him.

No sooner had Rosie been pushing Tommy on the swing for a few minutes, when Tommy started to get a headache, but this was no ordinary headache. This was a headache that was in his face, in particular, around his eyes.

"Uh, Rosie? I think I've had enough swinging for now." Said Tommy in a weak voice, as he got down from the swing, and turned around to face Rosie, his face looking pail, his eyes looking droopy.

"Are you ok Tommy? You don't sound so good." Said Rosie.

"No Rosie, my face hurts." Said Tommy, covering his cheeks with his hands.

"We should get our mommies and daddies, they'll know what to do." Suggested Rosie.

"Ok." Said Tommy, as he started to walk back in the direction they came from, only to tire out, collapsing to the ground, barely crawling.

"Are you sure you're ok?" Rosie asked.

"I can barely move Rosie, you'd better go gets a growed up without me." Said Tommy.

"No, I'm not leaving you, but look, why don't we rest for a while, and then, you'll be all better and we'll go find our mommies and daddies." Said Rosie, pointing to a nearby tree.

She sat down, her back against the tree trunk with her legs spread out on the ground in front of her, Tommy, crawling closer to her.

"Here Tommy, lie down, and put your head in my lap." Said Rosie.

"Um, ok." Said Tommy in a barely audible whisper, as he lay his head across Rosie's lap, his eyes nearly closed, as he stretched the rest of his body out on the ground.

"Don't worry Tommy, I always help my friends who are in trouble, I'll make sure you're ok." Said Rosie, as she stroked Tommy's hair, remembering watching something similar to this sinario happen with two grown ups on TV one night, when she snuck downstairs late at night, after her sister was asleep, to see what her parents were watching on TV. She stayed with Tommy, until he drifted off to sleep.

A few minutes later, a gentle breeze filled the air, along with Tommy's snoring, soothing Rosie, as she too closed her eyes, and fell asleep. Meanwhile, the adults were starting to wonder where their kids were, as Betty, Kira, and Celeste all had to get to work, and Shannon wanted to go pick up some snacks for her and Rosie to have at the airport, as they were going to have a while to wait, since their flight back to Boston wasn't taking off till sometime late on Sunday afternoon. Peter and the other adults got up to look around for their kids. Celeste, Kira and Betty found Phil, Lil, Jesse, Zack, Dil, Kimi and Chuckie all playing on the jungle gym, but no sign of Tommy and Rosie anywhere. Peter agreed to watch all of the kids, so Celeste, Betty and Kira agreed to this, and headed off to work, leaving Peter and Shannon to search for Tommy and Rosie.

A little while later, Peter and Shannon spotted Rosie and Tommy asleep together by a tree, and the two toddlers looked so cute together, that both, Peter and Shannon took pictures on their phones. They decided not to disturb them, and Peter agreed to take care of Rosie while Shannon went to run her Aarons, and they'd meet up later, either at Tommy and Dil's house, or at Peter's castle in Richmond, Virginia.

"Wait a minute, Virginia is far away from California." Said Shannon.

"Oh no no no no Shannon, Richmond is the capital of the Confederacy, where I'm the king." Said Peter.

"Oh wow! How amazing!" Said Shannon with a smile, as Peter walked her to the gate of the park, seeing her off, before he found a bench to sit on, waiting for the toddlers to come find him, when they were ready to go home, or sunset, whichever one came first.

No sooner had Peter and Shannon taken pictures of the sleeping toddler couple, when two mean boys from Tommy's past, showed up. One of them had brown hair, wearing a red baseball cap, a purple and yellow striped shirt, and blue overalls, the other one, had bright red hair, and was wearing a yellow shirt and brown shorts.

"Hey bubble gum head, get your sorry bottom away from my tree." Snapped Timmy Mcnulty.

"Hey big kid, don't call me bubble gum head, don't wake me up from my nappy, and this isn't your tree, it's everyone's tree and me and my friend Tommy Pickles, who's still sleeping, were here first, so go find somewhere else to play." Snapped Rosie, completely forgetting about Tommy on her lap, as she stood up, causing Tommy's head to hit the grass, but with how tired he was, he slept through all of this.

"Now now listen, it appears you're new around here right?" Asked Josh.

Rosie nodded, a bit skeptical of these two boys, who looked to be about three years older than her, as Timmy and Josh were in kindergarten, and met one another at school.

"Uh, yeah?" Rosie replied hesitantly.

"Well, trees are for big kids, not little kids, and it wouldn't be fair to take the tree away from us, right?" Josh asked.

"Right, and if you don't leave, I'll make you give me six." Said Timmy.

"Six what?" Rosie asked in confusion.

"Ha ha, your little purple headed friend, bald back when I met him, asked the same question before Angelica and I ran the lympics. I should give you a medal for dummest baby on the planet, but since I don't have one, this will have to do. Come on Josh, let's show her a good time." Said Timmy, as he grabbed on to the collar of Rosie's dress, Josh grabbing both of Rosie's hands, and holding them tight behind her back, as they drug her to the other side of the playground, where another giant tree stood.

"Hey, do you like to play in high places?" Josh asked.

"Yeah!" Rosie replied.

"Then you won't mind climbing up to the top of that tree! That's where you belong. And Angelica's not here to stop me from messing with you and those dumb babies, so here you go!" Said Josh.

"But that's not fair! I should be able to play on the ground too." Cried Rosie.

"Tommy! Help me!" Cried Rosie.

"Sorry little lady, guess your boyfriend is too sick and dumb to care. Just wait and see, you're gonna be stuck in this tree forever, and there's nothing you can do about it." Timmy scoffed, as he started to climb the tree, dragging Rosie by the hair, Josh still holding on to Rosie's hands, being pulled up the tree.

Timmy was pretty strong for a five-year-old to be doing all of this, as they continued to laugh, ignoring Rosie's cries for help.

"Laugh now you big boys, but I'm sure Tommy is gonna rescue me." Said Rosie, the two boys, completely ignoring her comment, figuring she'd stay at the top of this tree forever.

Finally, they were at the top, and Timmy got Rosie's legs strattled around the tree.

"Now you can play horsey! Have fun!" Said Timmy with an evil laugh, as he let go of Rosie, who grabbed on to the tree with all of her might, so she couldn't fall down, and Timmy and Josh, slid down the tree, back to the ground.

But while they were big enough to slide down the tree, poor Rosie found herself, too high up to get down easily, so she called for help, but Josh and Timmy had disappeared faster than a shooting arrow, as they ran through the park, laughing evily, while Rosie continued to scream for help.

Meanwhile, Tommy awoke, noticing Rosie was gone, and his head was hurting worse. He was about to cry in pain, when he made out a faint scream for help in the distance, that sounded slightly like Rosie's voice. Now that he had a nap, while he still didn't feel wonderful, he at least had enough energy to run towards the sound, only to run into Josh and Timmy on the way there. They stopped him, each grabbing hold of the straps of his blue jean overall shorts.

"And just where do you think you're going?" Timmy asked.

"Looking for Rosie. You seen her?" Asked Tommy in a squeaky voice, as it was obvious he had lost his voice.

"Listen squeaky, we haven't seen your precious Rosie, unless you're talking about bubble gum head, well, she's gone." Said Josh.

"No she's not, and I may feel like Reptar took a bite out of me, but I'm going to find Rosie, and you can't stop me." Said Tommy.

"Oh yeah? Go ahead and try." Said Timmy, as he got out a water gun from his pocket, and started spraying Tommy in the face, soaking his clothes, causing him to to shiver from the cold water.

Then, the two boys continued to kick rocks, only Tommy threw them back on to the ground, and spray him with water, till they got to where Rosie was. At this point, they put him down.

"Have fun getting your precious bubble gum head down, cuz you'll never make it." Said Timmy laughing.

Tommy felt too miserable to talk back at this point, so he broke free of their grip, spotting a nearby sandbox. He ran to it, gathered up some sand, and threw it in the faces of Josh and Timmy, causing them to get sand in their eyes. They screamed in pain, running for their mommies, leaving Tommy at the base of the huge oak tree, with little Rosie at the top.

Tommy peered up the tree, and saw she was too high up for him to get down himself. Rosie, spotted Tommy on the ground down below, even though from up there, he looked like a purple ant, she recognized him.

"Tommy? Is that you?" Rosie called.

"Yeah Rosie, but…" Said Tommy.

"But what? You don't feel well?" Rosie asked.

"Well no, I don't, but I can't reach you either. Wait, I've gots an idea, don't move." Called Tommy, as he ran off, in search of Peter. He then found him on a bench, and told him in what little bit of his voice he had left, what had happened.

Peter didn't waste any time. He followed Tommy back to the tree, and got Rosie down, safely on the ground.

"Thanks for saving Rosie Peter." Said Tommy, giving Peter a hug.

"Wow! He can understand you Tommy?" Rosie asked in surprise.

"Yep, I sure can understand you Rosie, and, you're very welcome. Tommy, how are you feeling otherwise?" Peter asked.

"My face still is hurted." Tommy replied.

Peter got a closer look at Tommy, who appeared to be pail, and felt his forehead, which felt warm.

"We'd better go find your friends and brother, and get you home Tommy." Said Peter.

The three of them found the others, and headed for Tommy and Dil's house, where they met Didi. On the way there, Peter explained to Rosie who he was, and that he was a king.

"Wow! Can I come see your castle?" Rosie asked.

"Well sure you can! I'm watching you guys for the rest of the day, so let's go!" Said Peter.

"I wanna come too." Said Tommy.

"I'm sorry Tommy, but I'm afraid you can't come. You need to go see the doctor, and I'm about to dsee if your mommy will take you to one." Said Peter, as he approached Didi and explained to Didi what was going on.

"Don't worry Tommy, I'll come back and tell you all about it. And, thanks for saving me, even though you were sick." Said Rosie.

"You're welcome." Said Tommy with a smile, before it faded into a frown, as he was sad he couldn't go to Peter's castle, as he had lots of fun there, and wanted to go with Rosie.

Before he could say anything else, Didi scooped up Tommy, and put him in the car to take him to the doctor's, to see what else was wrong with him, while Peter took the rest of the crew to his castle in Richmond, Virginia.

On the way to his castle, the toddlers struck up a conversation about how Tommy was acting strange.

"Awe, don't worry about Tommy you guys, he's just, been bitten by the love bug." Explained Peter.

"Wow, Tommy was bitten by the love bug? I wanna eat the love bug! I bet it tastes yummy!" Said Phil.

"Me too!" Added Lil.

"Now Phil and Lil, remember what I told you two back when you guys thought Tommy's grandpa ate a bad bug, and you guys put bugs all over his body to fight the bad bug, how it's not real? It's just an expression? Well, the love bug is sort of, the same type of thing." Explained Peter.

Phil and Lil looked disappointed, but tried to understand what Peter meant.

While at Peter's castle, everybody played a rousing game of hide and go seek, and Dil and Rosie got to know one another. They quickly discovered that they both liked aliens and Goober, and had a lot more in common with one another than they thought. Not to mention, they were both the babies of the family, so they shared some stories with one another about what life was like with an older sibling. Rosie could tell by the look on his face that Dil was starting to like her, but she only hoped Tommy would never find out, as she would hate to end up in the middle of a quarrel between two toddlers.

She also found it interesting that Peter could understand her and all of the other toddlers, as back home, the only one who could understand her and her friends, who was much more grown up than her, was her big sister Mary. She knew that like Peter, Mary had a special gift of understanding babies, as Mary's best friend Krystal, sadly, could not understand them.

Later that afternoon, after everyone had played for a while at Peter's castle, and had a snack of some lime sherbert for a snack, he noticed the sun was starting to go down, so he gathered up everyone, and saw to heading back to Tommy and Dil's house, where Betty, Kira, Celeste and Laura were waiting to pick up their kids, and Taffy pulled into the driveway. Peter handed all of the toddlers except Dil and Rosie over to their parents, and went up to the porch, where he found a guitar case.

"What's that doing there Peter?" Rosie asked, pointing to the guitar case.

"I have no idea." Peter replied, as he rang the doorbell.

A few minutes later, Didi answered the door.

"We brought Dil back, and, he had lots of fun." Said Peter, handing Dil to Didi.

"Thanks for watching Dil." Said Didi.

"No problem. So, how is Tommy?" Peter asked.

"Well, Tommy has a sinus infection. Looks like he might have what you had." Said Didi.

"Sorry to hear that." Said Peter.

No sooner had he said that, when Taffy and Shannon walked up behind them.

"Oh dear, is the playdate with Rosie off for tomorrow?" Shannon asked, overhearing everything.

"Well, the doctor said that once Tommy has been on his antibiotic for twenty-four hours, coming in contact with others shouldn't be a problem. I'll just make sure Tommy plays quietly until tomorrow afternoon, since you're dropping off Rosie in the morning." Said Didi.

"And I'm watching everyone else's kids while Chaz and Kira, Betty and Howard, and Dana and Laura go celebrate Valentine's Day, and Celeste goes to work." Said Peter.

"Oh my gosh, I forgot tomorrow was Valentine's Day." Said Didi, as Stu walked up behind her.

"How could you forget Didi? I promised to take you up to that bed and breakfast in Nappa Vally tomorrow, and a concert." Said Stu.

"Well, I suppose we can go, just as long as we can get someone to watch the kids. Don't forget, we've also got Angelica coming tomorrow, as Drew and Charlotte are off to Germany for an important week long business meeting." Said Didi.

"I have no life, I can babysit." Said Peter.

"Are you sure?" Didi asked.

"It's no problem. Besides, it will take my mind off the fact that I was suppose to go on a date this weekend with Kelly Generic, only I learned yesterday that after school today, she and her family were leaving town to go visit her aunt Ruth. She claimed she'd get her parents to let her stay home, but while the kids were playing at my castle, I received a text on my phone from Kelly, proclaiming her parents made her go with them, and that our date had to be canceled." Said Peter.

"That makes two of us." Said Taffy, as she walked up behind Peter, who turned around to stare at her.

"Taffy? Long time no see, what's up?" Peter asked.

"Well, Didi had called me earlier in the week to watch Tommy and Dil today while she went to her class, since nobody had heard from you in practically forever, and Stu went to his inventor's thing, only I arrived here this afternoon to find nobody home." Said Taffy.

"Oh my gosh Taffy, between being worried about Tommy, etc. I completely forgot to call you and cancel the babysitting gig, as Peter showed up unexpectedly, and took the kids to the park, so I left early to get some Aarons done before class." Said Didi apologetically, as she put squirming Dil down on the floor, and he ran off towards the living room, where he found Tommy, sucking on a lime lollipop and watching Reptar.

"It's ok Didi, but in my haste to leave, I forgot to pick up my guitar." Said Taffy.

"Here you go." Said Peter, picking up the guitar from the porch and handing it to Taffy.

"Thank you." Said Taffy, taking the guitar case from Peter.

"So, what are your plans for Valentine's Day tomorrow?" Peter asked.

"Well, nothing. I had plans, until last night, while having a gig at Piggies Pizza Palace, I oversaw my best friend Bratanica, smooching with my boyfriend. The nerve! My best friend and boyfriend, going out behind my back! I could use an evening with the minis and you tomorrow to keep from going insane." Said Taffy.

"Hey, what if you and I went on a date for Valentine's Day? We can watch the minis, and, well, have some fun!" Suggested Peter.

"Well, I guess, but you're like, two years younger than me, and a king! How would it look?" Taffy asked.

"I know I'm only fourteen, and you're sixteen, and no, you're not royalty, but so what if we rock the cradle for one night. That doesn't matter to me." Said Peter with a twinkle in his eye.

"Then it's settled then, I'll join you tomorrow afternoon, at around lunchtime?" Taffy asked.

"Lunchtime sounds great!" Said Peter, as he and Taffy headed back down the sidewalk, and Peter headed off to his castle, while Taffy put her guitar in the trunck of her car, got in the driver's seat, and drove away.

All of the other moms scooped up their kids, and told Stu and Didi goodbye, and that they'd all be back tomorrow, Shannon, relieved that there'd be two responsible teenagers there to look after her daughter, along with everybody else's kids tomorrow, while she saw to the realter and trucking company stuff.

Meanwhile, inside the house, Dil had approached Tommy in the living room.

"Hey bro, I hear you gotted a sinus inflection." Said Dil.

Tommy took the lollypop out of his mouth and nodded with a frown.

"Well, at least you've gots medicine to make you all better." Said Dil with a smile.

"Yeah but it taste terrible." Replied Tommy with a sigh.

"What would happen if you didn't gets any medicine?" Dil asked, taking a seat on the living room carpet next to his brother.

"I'd get tangerine." Tommy replied.

"What's tangerine again?" Dil asked.

"It's where I'd turn all orange and my face would fall off." Replied Tommy, as he put the lollipop back in his mouth, and turned his attention back to Reptar on TV.

Dil just started laughing.

"Wow, my brother with no face, that would look so silly!" Said Dil between his giggles.

Tommy's face went red. Dil turned and noticed.

"Sorry Tommy, I couldn't help it." Said Dil.

And this, ends chapter 4. So, how will things go the next day? We'll find out, in chapter 5!

Author's Note: Well, this chapter took me over three hours to write, so, if you made it this far, I thank you for reading, and, hopefully, I'll have chapter 5 up sometime later this evening, as it too, is liable to be another long one.


	5. Dates can be Damaging

Chapter 5, Dates can be Damaging

While Tommy was now on an antibiotic to help him get over his sinus infection, the antibiotic came with a very unpleasant side effect. Overnight, poor Tommy, who had been potty trained for over a month at this point, as his parents started him on it right after New Years, had diarrhea. Unfortunately, all three times he awoke during the night, the first time, he awoke to wet pants, which his mom changed, the second time, he awoke, feeling like he had to go, but barely missing the potty as soon as he got to the clown potty in the bathroom, which they were borrowing from the Finsters, until Tommy was ready to use the regular potty, and the last time, he didn't even make it as far as the bathroom, going in his pajamas, while standing in the hall. All three times, he cried, and after the third time, he couldn't get back to sleep, for fear he'd go in his pants again.

"_I wish I still wore diapies!_" Tommy thought to himself, as he tossed and turned in bed the rest of the night, unable to sleep.

The next morning, Dil awoke to find his brother had already headed downstairs. He climbed out of his crib, thankful that his older brother had taught him how to do this, once he was old enough to be trusted with his own plastic screwdriver, and headed downstairs, where he found his brother already eating a breakfast of yogurt and prune juice, recommendations that Didi read in Dr. Lipchitz, to help with Tommy's digestive track.

Looking down, she saw Dil had come downstairs for breakfast, so she scooped him up, put him in his highchair, and fed him some oatmeal, before going to get packed for her overnight trip to Nappa Vally with Stu. A little while after breakfast, Peter arrived with Phil, Lil, Chuckie, Kimi, Zack and Jesse, as they had all been dropped off at his castle in Richmond, Virginia early that morning, before all of their families, either went off to celebrate Valentine's Day, or went to work. By the time they got there, Stu had gotten Dil dressed in his green and yellow striped t-shirt and a fresh diaper, but Tommy remained in one of his last clean pair of blue footsy pajamas, looking more tired than ever, seeing he had been up and down half the night. He had been given his next dose of antibiotic, which he had to take this medicine, three times a day, for five days, and while his face wasn't hurting anymore, he didn't like having the diarrhea, and was quite tired.

After they arrived, Peter put the toddlers into the playpen and helped Stu and Didi get their car ready, while they gave him instructions on what to do with the kids, and where to get Angelica situated for the night, since Drew and Charlotte hadn't arrived yet to drop her off. Stu and Didi had a long drive to Nappa Valley, so they wanted to get going.

"Are you sure you're going to be all right?" Didi asked.

"Don't worry Didi, we'll be fine." Said Peter with a grin.

"And don't forget, Taffy will be over at around lunchtime to help you out." Said Didi, as she got into the passenger seat of the car, and Stu started the car.

"Thanks for the reminder, have a good time. We'll stay overnight so the kids aren't left alone, since you two won't be coming back until tomorrow." Said Peter, as he waved goodbye, while the car backed out of the driveway, and headed down the street, disappearing out of sight.

Back inside, all of the toddlers had said goodmorning to one another, and were about to sit down in the playpen and play a nice quiet game of roll the ball, only Tommy, who didn't say a word, stood up, and went to the exit of the playpen, opening it with his screwdriver, and started crawling through the living room.

"Where are you going Tommy?" Chuckie asked.

"I know, let's follow him, and see where he goes!" Suggested Kimi, as all of the other toddlers, followed Tommy out of the playpen, towards the stairs, which he started climbing, till he passed out from exhaustion in the middle of the stairwell.

"Having trouble climbing the mountain eh Tommy? Here, let me help you." Said Zack, as he got next to Tommy, and helped him climb the rest of the stairs.

When they reached the top, Tommy stood up, and ran for his bedroom.

"Wow Tommy, I don't recall any aventures taking place in your room before." Said Zack.

"Not going on any aventures." Muttered Tommy.

Everyone gasped as they saw him stand in the doorway of his bedroom, and let out a yawn.

"Then what are we doing Tommy?" Zack asked out of curiosity.

"I'm going back to bed, I'm tired, I'll see you all after my nappy." Snapped Tommy.

"What about Rosie? She's gonna be here any minute." Asked Dil.

"Goodnight!" Tommy shouted, before slamming the door closed in everyone's faces, leaving them to stare at the doorknob, which, while Chuckie and Jesse were tall enough now to reach it, they could all tell Tommy didn't wish to be bothered, so they all headed downstairs where they met Peter, who had them go play in the backyard, while Tommy took his nap.

Once Tommy had slammed the door shut, he curled up in his bed, where he fell asleep, and had a dream, where he was sailing down a river in a wooden boat with Rosie next to him.

"Now hang on Rosie, the treasure is just up ahead." Said Tommy, pointing to a beach in the distance.

"Eye eye Captain Tommy." Said Rosie.

Back in the real world, Shannon showed up with Rosie. Peter let them in, and took Rosie to the backyard, and then, saw Shannon to the door once again, since she needed to get back to her late mom's house, as the people she was expecting, would be there any minute.

Out in the backyard, Rosie looked around, to see all of the kids there except Tommy. She approached Dil, who was playing on a rocking horse.

"Hey Dil, where's Tommy?" Rosie asked.

"Oh, Tommy didn't sleep well yesterday night so he's taking a nappy, but we can play together till he wakes up." Said Dil with a smile.

"Sounds like fun!" Said Rosie.

The two of them played with the other kids, and with the dogs, Spike and Spikfi. Rosie wished her family could get pets, but because they lived in an apartment back home, they couldn't have pets, unless they lived in a bowl or a cage. Her big sister had several pets, from goldfish, to rabbits and gerbals, but nothing like a dog or a cat, something that Rosie wished her family could have had, and so did her sister. While their apartment was one of those two story ones, her parents did not wish to pay extra money for a pet, since living was so much more expensive in the city of Boston.

Later that morning, Drew and Charlotte dropped off Angelica, and gave Peter her stuff, and instructions on that upcoming week to give to Didi, which included directions to Angelica's preschool, since they'd be driving her to and from school over the next week. Peter put the instructions on the fridge, and sent Angelica out back with the others. No sooner had she stepped outside, when Rosie recognized her. It was the same little blond girl she saw on TV with her sister over a year ago, who said the bad word.

"Hi there, you're the girl who said the bad word on Miss Carol's show!" Said Rosie.

Angelica went red in the face, gritting her teeth.

"I don't know who you are cotton candy head, but don't ever, mention Miss Carol to me again." Angelica snapped, grabbing at the collar of Rosie's dress.

"Oh, sorry." Said Rosie.

"Who are you anyway?" Angelica asked.

"Oh, I'm Rosie, Tommy and Dil's girlfriend." Replied Rosie.

"Really? You wanna be my girlfriend?" Dil asked.

"Sure! You're fun, and, we share lots in common, how about it?" Rosie asked, realizing she may have opened her big mouth, too soon.

"Ok, I'll do it!" Said Dil with a grin.

At that point, Angelica loosened her grip on Rosie's dress, and Rosie and Dil went off to play together, while Angelica went off to a deserted part of the yard, to play with her new Cynthia fortress she got for Christmas.

At nearly lunchtime, Taffy showed up, and the doorbell awoke Tommy from his nap. Feeling like he needed to go potty, he went to the door to try to open it, only it had one of those child proof things on the doorknob. Normally, the door was left open at night, so Tommy had a clear path to the potty, but dsince he slammed it shut before his nap to get away from his energetic friends, he had forgotten this had been installed. Poor Tommy tried to open the door, both, with his hand and his screwdriver, but no luck. Then, he overheard laughter coming from the backyard, so climbed on the toy chest beneath the window to peer out, looking down to see Dil and Rosie playing Wring Around the Rosie, and the other toddlers, playing different things. No sooner had he spotted all of this, when he had another diarrhea accident in his pants. Tommy ran to the door and started whailing at the top of his lungs, hoping Peter would hear him.

Downstairs, Taffy and Peter overheard Tommy crying on the baby monitor, so Taffy went up to see what was the matter, while Peter fixed everybody's lunches. Taffy headed upstairs, got Tommy dressed and into some clean pants, and brought him downstairs to the backyard with his friends, sending him out to play while she went and helped Peter finish preparing everybody's lunches.

Upon seeing Tommy come outside, Rosie and Dil stopped their game of Wring Around the Rosie to greet him.

"Hey Tommy, I was wondering if you'd ever wake up from your nappy, as it's nearly no shadow time." Said Rosie.

"I'm here Rosie." Said Tommy with a sigh, as he sat down on the ground, looking sad.

"Is something wrong?" Rosie asked.

"You wouldn't understand." Muttered Tommy, turning away from Rosie.

It was true, Rosie, along with Zack and Dil, were the only three toddlers out of the group to still wear diapers, so Tommy knew she wouldn't understand.

"Did you have a accident again Tommy?" Dil whispered into Tommy's ear.

Tommy nodded.

"Come on Tommy, what's wrong?" Rosie asked, putting a hand on Tommy's shoulder. Tommy jurked it away.

"Nothing's wrong." Tommy snapped.

"Tommy had a accident." Said Dil.

"Dil!" Tommy said annoyed.

"An accident? Are you, potty trained?" Rosie asked.

"I was, till now, now I've gots diary, and don't make the potty no more." Said Tommy, about ready to cry, looking embarrassed.

The others overheard this, including Angelica, who came up to him and corrected him.

"You babies are so dumb, it's not diary, it's diarrhea. But I don't blame you babies for not being able to talk right, seeing you have mush for brains." Said Angelica, as she stomped off towards the house, hoping she could have some cookies before lunch. Unfortunately, Taffy spotted her, and made her sit down at the table, not letting her have any cookies until after she finished her lunch.

"Oh, I'm sorry Tommy." Said Rosie.

Tommy didn't say anything. He was hoping he wouldn't have to tell his girlfriend that he missed the potty, but he did.

"So Rosie, wanna go play some more?" Dil asked.

"Sure!" Replied Rosie.

"You're the bestest girlfriend I ever had." Said Dil.

Tommy blocked their path, displeased.

"Hey! Rosie's my girlfriend! Now give her back!" Demanded Tommy.

"No Tommy, she's my girlfriend." Argued Dil.

The two of them continued to argue over Rosie, till Peter called everyone in for lunch.

While at the table, everyone dug into their lunch, and Tommy took another dose of his medicine, and ate his lunch.

"So, what are we gonna do after lunch Tommy?" Kimi asked.

"Yeah we haven't played with you in a while." Added Chuckie.

"That's cuz he only wants to play with Rosie now." Said Jesse.

"Don't you guys remember what Peter tolded us yesterday? Tommy's been bitten by the love bug!" Said Zack.

"Yep, he's got a bad case of the love bug all right, and it won't be long, till Tommy disappears." Said Angelica.

"What are you talking about?" Tommy asked.

"Well, when you come down with a case of the love bug, you can't stop staring at the person you love the mostest. Then, you get a soar throat. Then, you don't wanna eat anything. You're tired all of the time, and only want to play or do anything if it's with that special girl. Then, you have a terrible coughing fit till you throw up, then your face hurts something awful, and finally, you cry and wet your pants, till you turn back into a tiny baby and disappear forever." Explained Angelica.

Other than the last part, Tommy stared at her, in shock. Ever since he first laid eyes on Rosie, he hadn't felt good, and only seemed to do anything if Rosie was around. Then, he turned his gaze away from Angelica towards Dil.

"Uh Dilly, you go be with Rosie, I don't wants to be sick no more." Said Tommy.

"No Tommy, you like Rosie, you keep her." Said Dil.

Rosie didn't like all of this arguing over her, and she only hoped by the end of the day, they'd settle this issue. Before Tommy could say anything else, he had another accident in his pants again.

"Eeewww!" Said Lil.

"Ha ha ha, little baby Tommy went poopy in his pants again, won't be long till he disappears." Scoffed Angelica.

Embarrassed, Tommy hopped down from his booster seat at the table, ran out of the kitchen, and into the downstairs bathroom, where he closed the door, and started crying. He had an accident in front of his friends, but most importantly, in front of Rosie, and leave it up to his cousin Angelica to make things worse, even if for once, she was telling the truth in terms of how Tommy felt ever since he met Rosie.

"Angelica how could you?" Chuckie asked.

"Yeah Angelica, why did you have to go treat Tommy like that?" Zack asked.

"You bsabies are so dumb, you'll never understand that I'm the boss, and that I can do anything I want." Said Angelica, as she snuck the cookies off of everyone's plates, and stuffed them into her mouth. Just then, Taffy walked into the room and noticed this.

"Angelica? Were you being mean to the minis again?" Taffy asked.

"Uh, no Taffy, I was just, finishing my dessert!" Angelica lied, as she wiped her cookie crumbs from her mouth, and left the table.

Taffy noticed the other toddlers were clean of cookie crumbs, being led to think that Angelica must have done something, but Angelica had left to go play some more outside with her Cynthia fortress, so Taffy let it go for now, but would be sure Angelica was punished good the next time something came up.

After lunch, all of the toddlers headed into the living room to play, except for Rosie. She overheard Tommy's crying in the bathroom and went to see if he was ok. She pushed open the door to find him on the floor, his face buried in his hands.

"Hey, you ok?" Rosie asked.

Tommy turned around, staring at Rosie in the doorway.

"I'm fine." Tommy replied.

"No you're not, you're upset cuz Dil likes me too, and Angelica wasn't so nice to you. Look, maybe we should stay together, you wouldn't want Dil to get sick too, would you?" Rosie asked.

"Oh wow, I hadn't thought about that. Ok Rosie, we'll stay together, so long as you don't mind that I'm gonna disappear." Said Tommy.

"Maybe there's a way we can stop you from disappearing. I sawed something on TV once, where a man drank something to fall asleep, and the lady gave herself a booboo with a knife, and she too fell asleep, and they lived happily ever after." Explained Rosie.

"So if I have something to drink that puts me to sleep, and you poke yourself with a knife, I won't disappear?" Tommy asked, confused.

"That's what I sawed happen on TV, I think the couple was named Rome and Julie or something." Said Rosie.

"Well, then, if Rome and Julie can do that, then I guess we can do it too, only, we're babies, we're not allowed to play with knives." Said Tommy.

"Sure we can, you don't wanna disappear do you?" Rosie asked.

Tommy nodded, and they went into the kitchen, where he helped Rosie up to the kitchen sink, where luckily, there was a knife in the sink that hadn't been washed from lunch, and Tommy founded a bottle of warm milk on the counter. No sooner had Rosie grabbed the knife, when Peter walked into the room.

"What are you doing?" Peter cried in panic.

"Oh, hi Peter, me and Tommy are just, making sure we're in love, and don't ever disappear." Said Rosie.

"But knives are very dangerous Rosie, you shouldn't touch them, ever." Said Peter, as he took the knife from Rosie's hand, and put it, where she couldn't reach it.

"What about Julie?" Rosie asked.

"Who's Julie?" Peter asked.

Rosie went on to tell him about Rome and Julie, and how they drank stuff and poked themselves, falling asleep together, remaining together forever. Peter laughed when she finished her story.

"What's so funny?" Rosie asked.

"First of all, their names are Romeo and Juliette, not Rome and Julie, and secondly, they didn't exactly fall asleep." Said Peter.

Rosie gave him a confused look.

"Huh?" Tommy and Rosie asked simultaneously.

"Ok, do we need to take a little trip to the 1600's, into the world of Shakespeare, so you two can see exactly what happened?" Peter asked, as he pulled the time machine, and a portal key to open up the world of Shakespeare out of a pocket of his gray confederate uniform.

"What's that?" Rosie asked, staring at the black cube in Peter's hand.

"It's a time machine!" Exclaimed Peter.

"Wow Tommy, Ididn't know you had friends that could take you on time traveling aventures, that's really cool! Yeah Peter, let's go!" Said Rosie with excitement.

Peter punched in the date of when Romeo and Juliette took place, activated the Shakespeare portal, pressed the Go Button on the time machine, and he, Tommy and Rosie, all vanished in a flash of white light.

Upon emerging from the flash of white light, the three of them found themselves in a grave yard. Here, two figures, roughly around Peter's age were present. One of them, the male, had a cup clutched tight in his hand, the other, a female, was carrying a sword.

"Uh, can we go back Peter, I've gots to go potty again." Said Tommy.

"Sorry Tommy, but potties didn't exist at this time." Replied Peter.

"Then I'll just go on a tree." Said Tommy, but he looked around, to see no trees.

Finally, he couldn't hold it anymore, and had another episode of diarrhea in his pants. The smell was so intense, that Romeo coughed up the poisonous drink, and Juliette threw her sword, barely missing Peter's head.

"Oh my sir, I'm so terribly sorry!" Cried Juliette apologetically.

"It's ok mam, nothing was injured here." Replied Peter.

"Glad thy person, is ok." Said Juliette.

"Huh?" Tommy asked in confusion.

"Yeah Peter, do peoples talk funny in this time too?" Rosie asked.

"Yes, they talk a lot differently than we do." Said Peter.

"So, I see we interrupted something." Said Peter, approaching Romeo.

"Yes, we were about to die so we could stay together." Replied Romeo.

"But why would you do that?" Rosie asked, hoping the two older ones would be able to understand her.

Luckily, when toddlers time traveled, they could be understood by everyone in the worlds of Disney, Shakespeare, and any other world they went to, that wasn't their own.

"Because our families don't like each other, and forbid us to be together." Replied Romeo.

"Well, seeing that we messed up the time space continiem, I have a brilliant idea for the two of you. Here, everyone would still think you're dead, but in actuality, you wouldn't, and, you two could live forever!" Said Peter.

"What do you mean?" Juliette asked.

"If you two traveled to the distant future, you two could live there, undisturbed, as your families would be long since gone by then, and, because you can't die when you time travel, you two could live in peace and harmony forever, and I have just the perfect place for you two to go." Said Peter, as he opened the portal to the world of Disney, punched in the year 2095 into the time machine, and he, Tommy, Rosie, Romeo, and Juliette all vanished, in a flash of white light.

When they emerged, they found themselves faced by two people they didn't recognize, a man and a woman.

"May I ask who has come here?" The man asked.

"Hello, I'm King Peter Albany of the Confederacy, I come from the past, along with my good friends, Tommy and Rosie, and these are our friends from the even more ancient past, Romeo and Juliette, and they are here, to live." Said Peter.

"I'm Timmy, and this is my wife, Crumbalina." Said the man.

"It's nice to meet you Crumbalina." Said Juliette, shaking Crumbalina's hand.

Peter went on to explain to Timmy and Crumbalina what Romeo and Juliette were forced to doing. When Tommy stopped this plan as a result of having an accident in his pants, they knew they had to escape, before they were caught by their families, so he brought them to this world, to live in peace and harmony.

"Well, we'd love to have you two come live with us. You can stay in our castle back in Richmond, Virginia, as I'm the king of the Confederacy there." Said Timmy.

"Are you saying, you're my great grandson from the future?" Peter asked.

Timmy nodded.

"I'm glad you two came here, you can stay with us, for as long as you'd like. After all, there are better ways to express your love to one another than dying. Why, when I realized I loved Timmy, I went to Ursula, the sea witch from The Little Mermaid, to have a spell casted upon me, that would turn me into a grown up, so I could be with Timmy forever, without looking strange, as Disney characters don't age." Explained Crumbalina.

"Oh wow! How nice, and, what a better way to express your love to one another." Said Juliette.

"Yeah, thank you Tommy, Peter, and Rosie, for showing us a better way to express our love to one another." Said Romeo, as he gave Peter and the two toddlers a hug.

"You're welcome my friend, and enjoy living in the year 2095." Said Peter, as he, Rosie and Tommy disappeared to an unoccupied forrest, so they could prepare to head back home.

"Well you two, do you want to die now for one another?" Peter asked.

"No, after all, if we die, we can never not get all growed up." Said Rosie.

"Yeah, or get jobs or do all that other stuff that growed ups do." Said Tommy.

"Good, now let's head home, dinner should be ready soon." Said Peter, as he entered February 14, 2014 into the time machine, and he, Tommy and Rosie, all vanished, in a flash of white light.

When they returned, they found themselves in Tommy and Dil's living room, and could smell pizza coming from the kitchen. While they were on their time traveling adventure, stopping the events of a Shakespearian tragedy from happening, the Finsters, Wehrenbergs, Barrows, and Devilles had all been by to pick up their kids, and Taffy had ordered the rest of them pizza for dinner, which was delivered by one of her X's she went out with before she ever met Peter or the Rugrats. Taffy was not happy to see him, but took the pizza and paid him quietly, and didn't start sobbing, till he drove away in his delivery truck.

"Something wrong Taffy?" Peter asked, approaching the sobbing teenager at the kitchen table. She looked up to see Peter staring at her.

"Oh, nothing, I just, had some dust in my eye." Said Taffy, as she dried her eyes with a tissue and saw to getting Tommy, Dil, and Rosie all situated for dinner.

"We're having pizza tonight minis, dig in!" Said Taffy excitedly, as she dished up some pizza on to everybody's plates, and got everybody some milk to drink.

"So, how were the Valentine's Days of our fellow friends families?" Peter asked.

"Well, Betty and Howard enjoyed their lunch at the Sammels Bar and Grill, and the movie they went to see in the afternoon, Laura and Dana enjoyed the massages they gave one another, but poor Kira and Chaz, Kira took him on a hay ride, only Chaz was allergic to the hay, and forgot his effy pin at home, so the two of them spent the better part of the afternoon, in the emergency room." Explained Taffy, as she took a bite of her first slice of pizza, and started to feed Dil simultaneously.

"Is Chaz ok?" Peter asked.

"He's fine now, just a bit tired out from the Bennadrill they gave him at the hospital, so they were going to have a quiet evening at home with their kids." Said Taffy.

"Quiet evenings are always nice, much nicer than stabbing yourself or drinking poisonous liquids to express your love, right kiddos?" Peter asked, turning towards Tommy and Rosie, who nodded with a smile.

"Huh?" Taffy asked in confusion.

Peter told her about their time traveling adventure, since Taffy couldn't understand the minis, and how they saved the lives of Romeo and Juliette.

Taffy was quite intrigued by Peter's story, and the two of them talked about everything under the sun, while getting their plates cleaned up from the table. Taffy even let him know that for some, a love one is a niece or nephew, like Celeste and Zack, she was going to spend some quality time with her nephew that evening, and didn't mind if her valentine was several years younger than her and related. Once Peter and Taffy had left, the three toddlers, struck up their own conversation, as Angelica finished at some point while Peter was busy talking to Taffy, as she snuck her plate beneath the table, which Spike and Spikfi licked clean for her, and Angelica snuck off to the living room to watch Cynthia P.I. when no one was looking.

"So Rosie, you still wanna be my girlfriend?" Dil asked.

"I already tolded you Dil, she's my girlfriend!" Snapped Tommy.

"No Tommy, she's mine!" Argued Dil.

The two of them continued to argue with one another, until Rosie couldn't take it anymore. She was so sick of Tommy and Dil fighting over her, that she did the only thing she could think of. She picked up her plate, still half full of pizza, and her sippy cup of milk, and threw them at Tommy and Dil's heads. The pizza landed in Tommy's hair, while Dil was drenched in milk.

No sooner had this happened, when Shannon had arrived to pick her up, and saw what she had done.

"Rosie Louise Hall, I am very disappointed in you! We don't throw things, and especially at children we hardly know, and in somebody else's house!" Scolded Shannon, as she snatched up her daughter, and stormed out of the house.

"I am so sorry Taffy and Peter, my daughter is usually much better behaved than this, really." Said Shannon apologetically, as Taffy and Peter led her and Rosie to the door.

"It's ok, she's probably just tired, she had quite a busy day of fun and adventures." Said Peter.

"We were going to stop by in the morning to say goodbye, but I don't think we will now." Said Shannon, as she stepped outside the front door.

"Well then, have a safe trip home, and it was nice to meet you both." Said Taffy with a smile, as she waved goodbye, and closed the door.

"Nice to meet you too Taffy." Said Shannon, as she carried Rosie down the steps, who was now crying, for two reasons. One, she would most likely, never see Tommy and Dil again, and two, she felt bad that she caused the two of them to fight over her, and her anger, caused such a mess.

Back inside the Pickles home, Peter and Taffy saw that Angelica had fallen asleep in a chair in the living room watching her TV show, so they took Tommy and Dil upstairs, to give them a bath. Unfortunately, the bath didn't go so well.

While in the tub, Dil and Tommy continued to fight.

"So Tommy, what do you think of Rosie now, after she gotted pizza in your hair?" Dil asked.

"It was only a accident Dilly, besides, she's my girlfriend, and you can't have her! Do you wanna get sick like me Dilly? I can tell you this much, it's been no fun to be sick Dil, you won't like it, and I'm not gonna let my onliest brother, catch the love bug." Argued Tommy.

"Oh I'm sure Angelica was just making it up." Said Dil.

"If Angelica was making it up Dil, then why do I feel so miserable?" Tommy asked.

"Maybe aliums are doing this to you Tommy." Said Dil.

"There's no such thing as aliums Dil, now stop it!" Shouted Tommy.

"What is up with you? What happened to the old Tommy who'd play with me and be nice to me? Is Rosie all you care about now?" Dil asked, annoyed.

"Maybe this will help you understand." Said Tommy, as he splashed his brother, making him cry. Peter oversaw this, and was not pleased.

"Tommy Pickles, what has gotten into you?" Peter asked.

"You stay out of it Peter, Rosie is my girlfriend, and no one can have her." Snapped Tommy.

"What are you talking about Tommy, Rosie tolded me I was her boyfriend while you were taking your nappy." Shouted Dil.

"Enough!" Yelled Peter, silencing the two toddlers.

"Fighting is never the answer, and I'm sorry, but I think you two need to take a time out and calm down. Let's go." Said Peter, as he got them out of the tub, and placed them on opposite sides of their bedroom, in two toddler sized chairs, their backs to one another.

"Now you two are going to sit here for the next five minutes, not talking, or moving a muscle until I say so, got it?" Said Peter.

Tommy and Dil sat there, not wanting to speak to one another, as they were mad at one another.

After the time out was over, Taffy and Peter took Tommy and Dil separately, and finished giving them their baths. It was down to washing them off and washing their hair, playtime in the bathtub was suspended, as a result of their poor behavior from earlier. Then, they put them to bed, where Tommy immediately fell asleep, after Peter gave him his last dose of antibiotic for the day, and some Pepto Bizmal, to help with the diarrhea, but Dil couldn't sleep.

After the toddlers were put into bed, Peter went downstairs, and carried the sleeping Angelica up to the room where she would be sleeping, then went back downstairs to sit with Taffy for a while, before the two of them decided to get to sleep. They sat down together on a couch in the living room, Taffy with her guitar, as she played a nice little love song, to get Peter into the mood. Little did either one of them know that Dil had snuck out of bed, and was watching all of this from the entry hallway.

After Taffy finished playing a nice tune for him, she leaned in, and gave Peter a kiss. After the kiss, Peter just looked at her.

"What was that for?" Peter asked.

"Well, isn't that what you wanted?" Taffy asked, gazing into Peter's eyes.

"Look, Taffy, it's great that we could spend Valentine's Day together and take care of the minis, but I have to tell you something." Said Peter.

"What?" Asked Taffy.

"I like you, but as a friend, not a girlfriend." Said Peter.

"Oh?" Said Taffy.

"Yeah. I mean, that kiss, I didn't feel anything when you kissed me." Said Peter.

"Well, I'm fine with us being just friends." Said Taffy with a smile, as she and Peter gave one another a hug.

"_Eeewww! If kissing is what you have to do to claim you're in love, then I'd much rather just, be friends with Rosie. Tommy can have her if he wants._" Dil thought to himself, as he headed back up to bed, before possibly getting caught by either Peter or Taffy.

And this, ends chapter 5. So what will happen next? Stay tuned for the next chapter, to find out!

Author's Note: I was originally going to have this chapter be slightly longer, going into the next day after Valentine's Day's events, but with how long it turned out, I decided maybe I'd better end it here, and have the next day's events, start the next chapter. Also, I'd like to thank everybody who has read and reviewed this story so far, Boris Yeltsin, TCKing12, and Nairobi-Harper, you guys are awesome, and it's thanks to fans like you, that keep me going! Also, some stories to go check out, go check out Crumbalina's Relationship by TCKing12, you'll learn about the story that Crumbalina told during the time traveling adventure, and if you wish to learn about Rosie from the start of her life up until she goes off to college, check out Nairobi-Harper's story, Rosie's Past Life. So far, it only has 2 chapters at the time I'm making this recommendation, but it's really awesome, and I don't doubt it will continue to be good, as the story progresses! And if you wish to see Rosie when she's older, also be sure to check out Dil's College Years. So far, it's up to 11 chapters, and has over 100 reviews, but most importantly, it's an excellent story, and the characters face a lot of problems faced by anybody at that age in life. It's a story that we can all relate to, at one time or another in our lives. And, if you love seeing them as toddlers, two other stories to check out are Tommy Pickles: The Terrible Two's by babysmurfrock, and Three and Up by JJB-Jesse Barrow. Terrible Two's is up to 27 chapters, thanks to my helping babysmurfrock to come up with ideas for her story, and while Three and Up's chapters are short, they depict 11 minute episodes of his series quite well, and, it's a great read if you only have five or ten minutes to spare! I see this story having at least 2, maybe 3 more chapters, and, I hope to finish it up, over the weekend. For now though, you enjoy the rest of your Friday night, and, we'll talk soon.


	6. Heartaches

Author's Note: Ok, don't know how many Rugrat fans reading this saw the 4 hour Rugrat marathon that aired early this morning on 90's are All That, in honor of them being the Nicktoon of the 90's to win an award at Kid's Choice Awards way back in the day, but this fan was watching it, and, just, yay! Ok, I'll stop babbling, and get on, with the next chapter of this story, so, let's go!

Chapter 6, Heartaches

The following morning, Dil awoke early, hoping he could somehow, run into Rosie before she had to leave, as she had told him the previous day that she and her mommy would be heading back home the next day. So Dil snuck downstairs, to find that nobody had awakened yet, as Peter was still sound asleep on an air matress he had brought with him in the living room, while Taffy was spread out on one of the couches, so Dil snuck quietly into the kitchen, slipped out the doggy door, which he was still small enough to crawl through, and inched his way through the backyard, towards the broken fence board, that led into the yard of the house where Rosie was staying.

Meanwhile, Rosie also awoke early, as she too had snuck downstairs before her mommy awoke, and saw her mommy's iPhone on a coffee table, that was still there, as the trucking company would be coming later that morning to take the furniture away, before Rosie and her mommy left for the airport that afternoon. When Rosie looked at the phone, she noticed something very familiar. Her mommy had made the picture she took of Rosie and Tommy sleeping together at the park, the wallpaper on the background of the screen. Rosie stared at the phone for several minutes, till she heard something outside. She turned around to stare out the living room window into the backyard, to see Dil toddling up to the house. While Rosie couldn't reach the doorknob to open the backdoor, without standing on a chair, she did recall there was a doggy door, and because it was designed for a large breed of dog, Rosie could still crawl through it. She did just that, and met Dil in the backyard.

"What are you doing here Dil?" Rosie asked.

"I'm here to apologize, and to tell you that, well, I just, wanna be friends." Said Dil.

"Oh?" Rosie asked.

"Yeah, I sawed Peter and Taffy doing love things yesterday night, and, I think as babies, we're too young to be doing that type of stuff. Plus, my olderer brother did say I'd get sick if we stayed together, and I don't wanna get sick." Said Dil.

"Well, I like you too, but I really liked Tommy." Said Rosie.

"And oh yeah, I'm sorry you had to see me and Tommy fight over you like that." Said Dil apologetically.

"I forgive you Dil, and, I'm gonna miss, you and Tommy both. Where is Tommy anyway?" Rosie asked.

"Tommy's still asleep, but I can go try to wake him up if you'd like me to." Said Dil.

"No, I don't want you to make Tommy mad, should he get cranky from you waking him up or something." Said Rosie.

"Well ok." Said Dil, as he was about to crawl back into his own backyard.

"Wait!" Cried Rosie, as she caught up to Dil.

Dil turned around, stood up and stared at Rosie.

"What is it?" Dil asked.

"Can you give Tommy a message for me?" Rosie asked.

"I'll try, what's the message?" Dil asked.

"Tell Tommy I love him, tell Tommy, I'll miss him. Tell Tommy not to cry, my love for him, will never die." Said Rosie, before she turned around, and ran back towards the house, squeezing in through the doggy door, leaving Dil to head back to his own yard.

"You can count on me Rosie, I won't let you or my brother down." Shouted Dil from the gap in the fence, before he crawled back through to his yard, and crawled back through into his house, just in the nick of time, as Taffy and Peter were starting to stir in the living room.

They walked into the kitchen, to find Dil staring up at them.

"Well hey there little guy, I see you're up early." Said Taffy, as she yawned and rubbed her eyes.

"What's up little guy." Peter asked, squatting down to Dil's level.

"I was telling Rosie goodbye, she goes home today. Is Tommy up yet?" Dil asked.

"No." Peter replied.

An hour later, Tommy and Angelica awoke, and came downstairs for breakfast. Tommy felt much better that morning, as he slept all night without having a diarrhea accident, but something didn't seem right. He knew he needed to track down Rosie before she left for home, but no sooner had everybody sat down for some breakfast of chocolate-chip pancakes that Taffy made that morning, when the sky opened up and it started raining, preventing the kids from playing outside.

At Rosie's, the truckers had quite the time, getting the furniture moved out of the house into the truck in the rain. By the time the truck was loaded and taking off, the sun had come back out, Shannon had their bags packed, and it was time for her and Rosie, to leave for the airport.

As soon as the sun came out, Tommy scooted outside to the gap in the fence that led into the yard where he first saw Rosie, in hopes that he could tell her goodbye, but it was too late. The yard was completely deserted, and when Tommy peered in one of the windows, he saw the house was completely empty of furniture. Tommy sat down on the ground, and started crying.

Peter overheard this, and came outside, only to find that Tommy was in the next yard.

"Hey Tommy, come here." Called Peter from his backyard. Tommy stopped wailing, and crawled back through the fence into his yard, where he found Peter.

"What's wrong Tommy?" Peter asked.

"Rosie's gone." Tommy said in a sad tone of voice, tears rolling down his cheeks. Peter just picked up the heartbroken two-year-old, gave him a hug, and carried him into the house.

Meanwhile, Shannon and Rosie were bording their airplane.

"Flight 249 for Boston, Massachusetts, is ready for takeoff." Said a flight attendant over the speaker, as Rosie and Shannon got into their seats.

While Flying home, Rosie said her first word.

"Tommy! Tommy!" Cried Rosie.

"What was that sweetie?" Shannon asked, turning to her daughter in the seat next to her.

"Tommy!" Rosie cried again.

"Oh my goodness, she said her first word! I'm gonna have to tell your daddy and sister as soon as we land!" Shannon said with excitement.

Back at Tommy's, Zack and Chuckie came over to play that afternoon, while Kira took Kimi out for some mother daughter fun, and Celeste went to work an afternoon shift at the radio station. Peter and Taffy were still there watching them, as Stu and Didi hadn't returned yet, they would not be back until late that evening, after the kids were asleep, so Taffy went and put Chuckie and Zack in the playpen with Tommy and Dil. Dil was playing with a little toy laptop computer, while Tommy was sitting on the floor, looking sad.

"Hey guys." Said Zack.

"Hi." Said Dil.

They noticed Tommy didn't say anything.

"Hey Tommy, what's wrong?" Chuckie asked, noticing his best friend looked really sad, about ready to cry again.

"I miss Rosie!" Tommy cried, before going into uncontrollable sobs.

"It's ok Tommy, I know how you feel. I missed Megan and Emma too." Said Chuckie, putting an arm around his best friend's shoulder, trying to comfort him.

Zack walked over to the dynamic duo, and put a hand on Tommy's other shoulder.

"And don't worry Tommy, there's other fish in the sea." Said Zack, realizing he made a huge mistake.

Tommy stopped dead when he heard Zack say this.

"A fish? My girl Rosie has turndid into a fish?" Tommy asked, angry.

"Well I didn't mean…" Zack started to say, before Angelica ran up to the outside of the playpen, overhearing the whole thing.

"Yeah, that's right Pickles, she did turn into a fish. So why don't you go to the ocean and join her." Said Angelica, as she opened the playpen, and drug Tommy by his shirt collar towards the backdoor, out into the backyard.

Once outside, she picked Tommy up by his shirt, and threw him into the Reptar wagon. Then, she tied Spike's tail to the handle of the Reptar wagon, turned on the garden hose, and aimed it at Spike, causing him to run, pulling the Reptar wagon behind him. When he got to the fence, while Spike jumped over the fence, the Reptar wagon sadly, didn't make it, causing it to crash into the fence, topple over backwards, causing Spike to break the handle, and run through the Deville's yard, and poor Tommy went flying out of the wagon, hitting his head on the tree, as he fell to the ground, and screamed out in pain.

Peter and Taffy ran out to see what had happened, and saw Angelica smiling about the whole thing.

"Angelica, were you mean to the minis again?" Taffy asked.

"Oh, no Taffy, we were just playing." Angelica lied.

"Angelica, it doesn't look like you were just playing. I see Spike has disappeared, and Tommy is hurt. This is what mistreatment leads to, and I'm sorry Angelica, but your fun for the day is over. You're coming with me." Said Taffy, as she grabbed Angelica by the arm, and took her into the house for a time out.

Peter attended to Tommy, who while surprising, his head didn't split open, it had quite the bump. He carefully lifted him up, carried him into the house, and put him down on the couch, with an icepack on his head.

"Now you just lie here and rest a while Tommy, the pain should go away soon." Said Peter, as he got Tommy situated.

"What were you doing anyway?" Peter asked out of curiosity.

"Going off to save Rosie, Zack tolded me she turndid into a fish." Said Tommy.

"I never said that, I said there were other fish in the sea." Said Zack.

Peter went over to Zack, and had a talk with him.

"Zack, you know your friends take things literally, why did you use that expression?" Peter asked.

"I don't know, I just, was trying to help Tommy feel better." Said Zack.

"Well, I think you o Tommy an apology." Said Peter.

Zack apologized to Tommy, but this didn't cheer him up.

"Oh, Tommy, there is something that Rosie wanted me to tell you when I sawed her this morning before she lefted." Said Dil.

"What?" Tommy snapped, still a bit annoyed at Dil for trying to steel his girlfriend the previous day.

"Uh, I forgotted now." Replied Dil.

"Thanks a lot Dil." Tommy said, annoyed.

Rosie and her mommy made it safely back to Boston, and her big sister and daddy were happy to see them again. Even Rosie was happy to see her family, and while she missed Tommy and Dil, she was happy to be home, and couldn't wait to get back to her normal routine of playing with her friends, Hazel, Courtney and Natalie. Unfortunately, while Rosie had things to look forward to, Tommy was sadly, continuing to deal with the heartache of missing Rosie, as he saw to his final three days of finishing off his antibiotic, and taking the Pepto Bizmal, to keep from having diarrhea.

Later that night, when Peter got Dil and Tommy tucked into bed, he pulled out something from his gray Confederate uniform to give to Tommy. He had printed out a copy of the picture he took on his phone of him and Rosie napping together at the park, and gave it to Tommy.

"I have something here that might help you feel better." Said Peter, handing Tommy the picture.

Tommy sat up in bed and looked at the picture. No sooner did he see Rosie, when he started to cry again, for what seemed like the millionth time that day.

"I don't want it." Cried Tommy through his tears, as he handed the picture back to Peter.

"Well, I'll hold on to this for you, just in case you change your mind." Said Peter, taking the picture back, and putting it back into his pocket.

"_Perhaps it was too soon to be giving Tommy that picture._" Peter thought to himself, as he headed out of Tommy and Dil's room, and ran into Taffy in the hall, who had just finished putting Angelica to bed.

"So, how's Tommy doing?" Taffy asked.

"The poor kid's got a broken heart." Peter replied with a frown, as he headed back downstairs.

"Maybe I can help." Taffy said, picking up her guitar, and heading into Tommy and Dil's room, where both toddlers lay awake in their beds. Taffy sat on the edge of Tommy's bed, and played him one of his favorite songs, hoping it would cheer him up, but it was no use. The frown never left his face, and by the end of the song, he and Dil were both asleep.

"So, how did it go?" Peter asked, as Taffy came downstairs.

"You're right Peter, Tommy's got a broken heart." Said Taffy with a sigh.

An hour later, Stu and Didi arrived home, and the two babysitters filled them in on all that went down over the weekend. They alerted them of how Tommy was doing, as a result of Rosie's departure, and to keep a close eye on him and the other kids, if they came over during the week. Once they helped Stu and Didi get their bags into the house, Peter and Taffy, both headed for home, where they got some well deserved rest.

The next day, Rosie went to her friend Hazel's house, and told her about her wonderful trip. She also told Hazel that while she missed Tommy, she was happy to be home, and the two of them played together all day, and had loads of fun. Back at Tommy's though, the opposite effect was going on. All of his friends came to play the next day, and they all tried to get him to do the things that he loved, but all Tommy wanted, was to see Rosie. Peter showed up that afternoon, as he volunteered to pick up Angelica from preschool and bring her to her aunt and uncle's, and noticed that nothing was going well, and poor Tommy, was still pretty upset.

"Give it up Pickles, Rosie's never not coming back." Said Angelica, as she stormed into the living room, overhearing Tommy's crying, the other toddlers, surrounding him, trying to comfort him with very little success, as nothing they did, cheered him up.

"Now Angelica, don't you remember how you felt when Deen went off to his mommy?" Chuckie asked.

Embarrassed, Angelica just went red in the face, sending an angry glare in Chuckie's direction.

"Shut up Finster." Angelica snapped, as she stormed out of the room, un interested in being a part of the depressing commotion anymore.

Peter, feeling bad for Tommy, was sitting in his favorite easy chair at the Pickles, looking through Facebook on his iPhone, when he came across some friend requests. Shannon Hall had friended him on Facebook. He accepted her friend request, and saw that her husband, Terry Hall had a personal Facebook, and a page promoting the realter business he worked for, and Mary Hall, Rosie's older sister, had a Facebook account. Peter added them both, and went through, looking at several videos that had been posted of Rosie. One of which, was posted earlier that day.

"Hear Rosie's first word, and see her playing happily with her friends." Read a wall post, along with a video. Peter clicked on the video, and heard Rosie say Tommy's name to the camera, then she, along with three little girls that Peter didn't recognize, were all dancing and giggling to some doffimore music, something Rosie's daddy liked to listen to, as he played the doffimore in his spare time.

"Hey Tommy, come check this out." Said Peter, motioning Tommy to come over to him.

Tommy came over, and saw the video of Rosie dancing with her friends back home. He was not impressed.

"What's wrong? I thought you'd want to see Rosie." Said Peter.

"Rosie don't miss me, she looks too happy to be missing me." Said Tommy with a frown.

"Come on Tommy, don't you see the deeper message here? Maybe she misses you, but she's happy to be home with her friends. I bet if you tried, you could be happy too. Come on Tommy, I've got an idea, follow me." Said Peter, as he led Tommy out to the backyard, where Chuckie's old red pedal car was in the yard, which had been handed down to Kimi, since Chuckie was starting to get too big for it. Tommy sat down in the driver's seat of the car, and Peter, started the video camera on his phone.

"Come on Tommy, look alive and smile. Don't you want to show Rosie you're happy?" Peter asked.

But Tommy wasn't feeling happy, and he certainly didn't want to lie to his friend. He tried to smile, but it looked more like how he looked the previous Easter, when Spike had run off with Fifi to have puppies, the creepy smile, that scared Chuckie out of his mind.

"A real smile, come on Tommy, you don't want to creep Rosie out, do you?" Peter asked.

Tommy's fake smile turned back into a frown, as he leaned on the steering wheel of the car, beeping the horn.

"I miss you Rosie, come back to me." Tommy cried, as he pedaled the car out of the sight of the camera. Peter than turned the camera around, aiming it at his face.

"You heard him Rosie, he misses you, if you can find a way to cheer him up, we'd love to see it." Said Peter, before he stopped the video recording on his phone, and uploaded it to his Facebook wall.

The next day, and the second to last day Tommy had to take his antibiotic, Mary saw the video posted to Peter's wall, and got Rosie to check it out with her on her iPad.

"My sister, looks like you and Tommy have a thing for each other, huh?" Mary asked.

"Yeah, and he misses me. Hey! Can we do that video thing that growed ups do on the iPhone or iPad to talk to him?" Rosie asked.

"Oh, you mean Facetime?" Mary asked.

Rosie nodded.

"I guess we can call Peter, if he's ok with it." Said Mary, as she sent Peter a private message, as since Facetime calls didn't cost anything, Mary could do Facetime on her iPad, as long as all calls were finished before bedtime, and as long as the person had friended her bback on Facebook, which she friended Peter back, when she saw he was a friend of Rosie's, since the rule was in her family, you had to be at least five-years-old before mom or dad would set you up with a Facebook account, Mary went on ahead and added him back.

Later that night while at his castle, Peter saw Mary's message, and arranged for them to do a Facetime call the next afternoon, after Mary got home from school, as she and Rosie would be together, and Peter would be watching Tommy and Dil the next day, while Stu and Didi took care of some things they needed to do. There was a three hour time difference, so after realizing this, Peter decided he would give Mary a call once Tommy had completed his afternoon nap, which would be late afternoon for her and Rosie. He also found out while talking with her, that she too could understand toddlers, so what a perfect way to get the two toddlers to talk to one another, one last time, as Peter was no dummy, he knew what was bothering Tommy. He didn't get to tell Rosie goodbye before she left, and he figured, if they could talk, just one more time, this would get Tommy over his heartache, knowing that despite living so far away from one another, they could still communicate in real time.

The next day, at around lunchtime, Tommy took his last dose of his antibiotic, and one final dose of the Pepto Bizmal, just to play it on the safe side, when Peter spoke up.

"I have a surprise for you Tommy that might cheer you up." Said Peter.

"Are we gonna go visit Rosie?" Tommy asked in between bites of his sandwich.

"Nope." Replied Peter.

"Is Rosie moving here?" Tommy asked.

"Nope, but it does have to do with Rosie." Peter replied.

"Tell me, what is it?" Tommy asked, getting really excited.

"Nope, sorry, you have to take your hnap first, then you'll find out." Said Peter.

Tommy didn't want to take his nap once he heard about this, but he reluctantly went along with it, as there was no point in arguing with the king of the Confederacy. When it was about time for Tommy to awaken, Peter made the Facetime call to Mary's iPad. When she and Rosie received the call, they had been playing hide and seek, and Rosie had just found Mary.

"Hey, that's my iPad, let me answer it." Said Mary, scooting past her sister to the desk where she kept her iPad in her room. She answered the Facetime call to see a guy with brown hair, wearing gray clothing on the screen.

"Hello? Mary, is that you?" Peter asked.

"Yep, it's me, is that Peter?" Mary asked.

"Yep, sure is.

"Hi Peter!" Exclaimed Rosie, as she got up next to her sister, both of their heads, appearing on Peter's end on his iPhone.

"Hey Rosie, hold on, I'm going to get Tommy right now." Said Peter, as he carried the iPhone to Tommy's room, and turned on the lights. At which time, he and Dil awoke.

Peter approached Tommy's bed, where he sat up, his eyes wide with curiosity as to what this surprise could be. Peter turned his phone so Tommy's face showed up on the screen.

"Hi Tommy, it's me, Rosie!" Said Rosie, as Tommy gazed at the picture on Peter's phone.

"Rosie? Hi!" Said Tommy with a smile, really excited to hear from her.

"How you doing?" Rosie asked.

"I miss you Rosie." Replied Tommy.

"I miss you too, but it's great to be home." Said Rosie.

"Yeah, we missed you a lot Rosie." Said Mary.

"I missed you too sis." Said Rosie, giving her sister a hug.

"Wow! Your sister can understand you too?" Tommy asked.

"Sure can, and your friend Peter seems really cool too." Said Mary.

"So, did Dil give you my message?" Rosie asked.

"No, he forgotted, but glad you never turndid into a fishy. Zack and Angelica tried to tell me you turndid into a fishy." Said Tommy.

"That's silly." Said Rosie with a giggle.

Tommy giggled too.

"So, what did you want Dil to tell me?" Tommy asked.

"That I love you, I miss you, and to please not cry, my love for you, would never die. Oh and Dil agreed to not be my boyfriend no more." Said Rosie.

Tommy sighed with relief, thankful that Dil decided to back off.

They talked for a few more minutes, when Shannon came into the room, and overheard her daughter babbling baby talk to Mary's iPad. She looked and saw who was on the other end of the Facetime call.

"Peter! Tommy! What a pleasant surprise!" Said Shannon with a smile.

"Nice to hear from you Shannon. Did you have a good flight home?" Peter asked.

"Oh yes I did, even though we arrived in two feet of snow, it was great to return to Beantown, I missed it." Said Shannon.

"You know, it was a pleasure getting to know you and your family." Said Peter.

"I enjoyed getting to know you too, and, hopefully, we can keep in touch. What a great idea you had to do this Facetime call, as it's obvious, based on what Rosie's first word was to the grown ups, she really missed Tommy." Said Shannon.

"Yeah!" Said Mary.

"Well Tommy here, has been pretty sad ever since she left, and something told me that if they could just, babble to one another on Facetime, see each other at least one more time, that perhaps that would cheer him up." Said Peter.

"I take it you've known Tommy for quite sometime now, and know exactly what he needs." Said Shannon.

"Yep, sure have, I've known him ever since I met his parents at auditions for Super Stumpers, which took place at my castle a while back. His mom, Didi, was one of the winners of the audition, and she and her husband Stu invited me back to their house for a celebration. I fell in love with their family and the other neighbors, and haven't looked back since." Explained Peter.

"Hmmm, Super Stumpers, you know, now that you mention it, I seem to recall watching an episode of that game show a while back, and recall a Didi Pickles as being one of the contestants. That was the same Didi we met?" Shannon asked out of curiosity.

"Yep, it sure was." Said Peter.

"Wow, it really is, a small world after all." Said Shannon with a smile.

"Yeah my sister and I saw it too, and, we recall a little baby running up to Didi when she won her prize. I can't believe that baby was Tommy." Said Mary.

"Yep, that was Tommy." Said Peter.

"Well Mary and Rosie, it's about time we see to wrapping up this call, it's time to get washed up for dinner. We're having your favorite, Dummy Bears macaroni and cheese!" Said Shannon.

"Mmmm Mmmm!" Said Mary and Rosie simultaneously.

"I believe Didi is fixing Reptar macaroni and cheese for Tommy and Dil tonight. But I know you guys won't allow Reptar in your house, which is a shame, as Reptar isn't as bad as your late mother made him out to be." Said Peter.

"Really!" Said Shannon.

"No, in fact, I found out after I met the Pickles, that it was Angelica who called Reptar to go on that rampage at that carnival, as I recall you telling me while we were watching the kids at the park the other day that story." Said Peter.

"Well, maybe we can check him out, or if nothing else, should Mary and Rosie discover him at this point and find they like him, I won't object to it." Said Shannon.

Peter nodded with a grin.

"Well Tommy, it's time to say goodbye, wanna wave bye bye to Rosie?" Peter asked.

Tommy waved bye bye to Rosie, and she did the same.

"We'll talk to you later Peter." Said Shannon and Mary.

"Bye ladies." Said Peter, before he disconnected the Facetime call, and turned to Tommy, who looked the happiest he had been in weeks.

"Now that's the smile I want to see." Said Peter.

"Thanks Peter, it's nice to know that even though me and Rosie are too far apart to play together all of the time, we can talk to one another." Said Tommy.

"I knew you'd like that." Said Peter.

"So, is it time for dinner yet?" Tommy asked.

"Oh no Tommy, we have a while, but why don't we go out in the backyard and play a game." Said Peter.

"I've gots an idea, let's pretend we're pirates and we're in search of a buried treasure." Said Tommy with a smile, hopping down from Peter's lap, and running out of the room, Peter, tagging after him.

They went out in the backyard and had a lot of fun, thankful that Tommy was more or less, back to normal, and that he was over his terrible case, of The Love Bug.

Later, both, Rosie and Tommy got hard copies of the picture of them that Shannon and Peter took on their phones, and whenever they looked at the picture, they were happy, and for Rosie anyway, it reminded her, of her first crush ever, and while how bad things can happen on a trip, like having to see your grandmother off to Heaven, a trip can turn into something really good, and thanks to Tommy, that last trip she ever took to California, was a trip, she would never forget. And for Tommy, he wasn't sure if he would ever meet Rosie in person again, but there was always hope, that it could happen, some day in the distant future.

The End

Author's Note: The idea for Rosie and Tommy to eat macaroni and cheese shaped like the Dummi Bears and Reptar, came from well, any Rugrat fan ought to remember way back when, when we all got to eat macaroni and cheese, shaped like the Rugrats. I sure did, and it was yummy! I should point out that the message that Rosie gave to Dil to give to Tommy, was a parody of some song lyrics to a song by Ray Peterson I believe was his name, called Tell Laura I Love Her. Also, the events of having Tommy and Rosie see videos of one another on Facebook, and having a Facetime call were inspired by two things. One being an episode of Full House from season 2, where Michelle had her first crush on a little boy named Howie, who she missed a lot when he went back home to Nebraska, until Becky showed a video of him that they made the night before at the airport, and the fact that sometimes, I'll talk to my nephew Zack on Facetime, and just like Tommy and Rosie waved bye bye to one another, Zack does that to me all of the time, it's so cute, even if I personally can't see it, due to being blind. And finally, there's going to be one more chapter to this, an epilogue, that takes place, thirty years in the future, which will be chapter 7, and I will get that posted most likely, sometime tomorrow, so be staying tuned for that, and hope you enjoy your weekend.


	7. Epilogue, 30 Years Later

Author's Note: I wanted to point out that Hunter and Brandon are OC's owned by Tropical and Sean, and Bassem is an OC owned by TheUnkownAuthor, and I only mention that here, since they weren't listed in the original disclaimer at the beginning of this story, since back when I started writing this, I hadn't decided to use them, but they appear in this final chapter, so thought I'd cover myself. And so, here we go, with the last and final chapter of this story, I hope you enjoy!

Chapter 7, Epilogue, 30 Years Later

Location: Boston, Massachusetts, February, 2044

Rosie had lived a wonderful childhood, and still resided in Boston, thirty years later. She was getting packed to go spend a week in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, which was three hours away from her. She had received her Masters in English at Boston College, and had recently published a book of poetry, as she loved writing ever since she learned how to do so as a child, and was honored to be presenting some of her poetry at a special guest lecture series out at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts in North Adams, Massachusetts, and at Berkshire Community College in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. She was getting her bags packed, when she glanced up at a picture on her dresser. It was a picture of her at age 2, and in her lap, was a sleeping purple haired toddler, around the same age. From the looks of it, they were at the park, but it had been so long, that the memory of when that picture was taken was more or less, a blur.

"Honey, are you ready to go?" Called Bassem from down the hall of their little apartment.

Rosie snatched up the picture from her dresser, stuffed it into her suitcase, and headed out to meet up with Bassem, where she gave him a hug and a kiss goodbye, before getting into her car, and making the long drive to Pittsfield.

Rosie had originally met the broonette boy known as Bassem Arakelian back in kindergarten. While she never lost sight of her girlfriends, she and Bassem grew very close over the years, only taking some time apart from one another, when he went off to college at Prenston University, getting his degree in Audio Ingineering, and for his first couple of years there, he had a geeky looking red head roommate named Chuckie Finster, who was a little shy, but pretty easy to get along with. Unfortunately, Chuckie changed schools, finishing to get his degree in Psychology at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, because that's where his best friend Tommy was going to school to get a degree in Journalism, and Chuckie missed him terribly. Of course, Bassem found he missed Chuckie on most weekends, when he'd go off to Yale to visit his girlfriend Nicole, who was studying to be a teacher, and it hit Bassem that he liked Rosie more than just a friend. So around the same time Chuckie left Prenston, Bassem also left, transferring to Boston College, to finish getting his degree, and to be closer to the pink haired love of his life. But both of them were so busy with their jobs after college, that they never seemed to find the time, to see about settling down and making their relationship a permanent one.

On the long drive to Pittsfield, Rosie was starting to wonder if Bassem would ever want to move on to the next stage of their relationship, marriage. No matter, once she got to her destination, she had a lot going on the next week, so more or less, put Bassem out of her mind, and focused on her trip, and her lectures. She went and got her hair done at a beauty salon called Glamourous Glories, where a lovely broonette lady named Lil Deville Barrow did her hair. She ate at a restaurant called Munchies, where the head chef, Phil Deville, gave her a complamentery chocolate cake, after one of the waiters messing up her dinner order, as a way of apologizing for such poor service. Phil, looked a lot like the lady who did her hair earlier that day, only a masculan version of this woman, which had Rosie trying to figure out if perhaps they were related in some way or another.

Later that week, before going to one of her lectures, she stopped off for a hot-chocolate and a doughnut at a Java Lava, where she read a sign on the wall.

"Started originally in Yucaipa, California by Charles and Kira Finster, now a world wide chain, since 2040, thanks to the people who brought you Starbucks for many years." Read the sign.

Then, as she got into her car to head to her first lecture, she somehow snagged the cord of her iPhone charger, so after her first lecture, she went to a Radioshack, where a lovely guy with strawberry red hair, wearing a blue button down shirt, with the name tag, Dil Pickles Deville on the shirt, helped her get a new charger. Later, when she arrived to give her poetry readings at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, she saw a Japanese looking woman dressed in a nurse's uniform leave the lecture hall, as Rosie prepared to give her readings.

"Thank you Nurse Kimi, that was a wonderful lecture you gave on opsomology." Said a college student to the Japanese woman in the hallway.

Rosie gave her lecture, and it was so beautiful, that a person from the local newspaper, The Berkshire Eagle, wanted to do a story on her. Rosie agreed to this, and went to the newspaper the next morning for her interview. She met with a purple haired man by the name of Tommy Pickles, only while this man's name sounded familiar, Rosie was having trouble comprehending where she heard that name before. No matter, she kept her focus on the interview, and tried to put this feeling of de ja vue that continued to follow her on this trip out of her mind.

Finally, she was sitting in her hotel room on the last night in town, when she pulled the picture of her as a child out of her suitcase. Just a few hours ago, she had been interviewed by a journalist named Tommy Pickles. As she studied the picture, she looked at the little boy that lay in her lap, and thought back to the interview. Then, the question rose in her mind.

"_Could that have been the same person?_" Rosie thought to herself, as she studied the picture from her childhood, and thought back to the interview from earlier that day.

The next day, before heading home, she picked up a copy of the newspaper, where the article on her was published. She loved that the part of the interview talking of her biggest inspirers like Frank O'Hara, Charles Olson, and Emily Bishop, along with many other great poets, were her inspiration for the many poems she wrote in her book, A Road to a Rose. But while the interviewer seemed very nice, something seemed different from the toddler in Rosie's picture. The man had two blue eyes that appeared to be made of glass, and he used a white cane to get around, which signaled he was blind. Rosie was determined to get to the bottom of this mystery, so as soon as she got home from her long week in Pittsfield, after she had a nice hot, soaky bath to cleanse herself, and take a little bit of time to recuperate, she got on to her computer, and started doing her research.

First, she looked up Tommy Pickles on Facebook. She found only one entry, and that he resided in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. As she looked through the photos that were posted to his wall, her heart skipped a beat when her eyes landed on one particular photo. She stared at the photo on the screen and the picture frame on her dresser, when she realized, they were both, the same picture. She couldn't believe that after thirty years, she ran into her childhood crush. While the memories of that trip to California were vivid, in the back of Rosie's mind, she never completely forgot about him, even though the one time he came to visit her in Boston, two months later, in April of 2014, around the time of the Boston Marathon, he got sick with a terrible stomach bug, causing the trip to be spoiled for both of them, and while for the next two years, Peter and Mary helped Rosie and Tommy keep in touch with one another via Facetime calls and videos on Facebook, it all ended on that sad day when the two of them were four-year-olds in preschool, and Tommy was going through a phase where he didn't want to play with girls anymore. As a result of this, the communication between these two young ones stopped, breaking Rosie's heart, but once she met Bassem the following year in kindergarten, she made it a new beginning, never looking back, only moving forward.

Rosie continued to look through Facebook at Tommy's wall and profile, learning a lot of things. He was married to a lovely red head named Silvia Weller Pickles, and they had two little boys, Darin and Keenan. Rosie looked through Tommy's friends, and saw that both, him and Rosie's current boyfriend, Bassem, had friended Chuckie, and his wife, Nicole Boserelli. Chuckie did have a degree in Psychology from Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, and Nicole had her teacher's degree from Yale. They too were parents, to a lovely little girl named Melenda Kira Finster, and it stated that she was named after her 2 paternal grandmothers. Now Rosie knew that Chuckie's mom was named Kira, but what she didn't know was that she was his stepmom, his biological mom was named Melinda, but she soon discovered this after looking at Chuckie's father, Chaz's profile, where she ran into some pictures of his late wife, Melinda up there. Chuckie's younger sister, Kimi Watanabe Finster Wehrenberg, was a nurse, and looking closer at a recent photo taken of her, she looked just like the lady who was a guest lecturer right before her who she ran into at the college in North Adams.

She continued to look through everything, learning that Kimi was married to Zack Wehrenberg, and they had twin girls named Abbie and Casey. Lil was married to Jesse Barrow, and they had twin boys named Keith and Kelly. Tommy's younger brother Dil, did indeed, work at Radioshack, and was married to Phil, the chef, making him gay, but that they had adopted a little girl named Danielle. And, Phil and Lil were twins. Then, she saw that all of these people had a king named Peter Albany friended on their Facebook, and it was that same Peter she knew from so many years ago, as Rosie's sister Mary, still had him on her Facebook after all of these years. Peter was now married to a woman named Violet, and they had a daughter named Rosemary.

Rosie continued to look through everybody's profiles, and saw that even Tommy's cousin Angelica Pickles Cowhoon, was now happily married to a man named Brody, and she did lawyer work in Springfield, Mass, and had two daughters, Zabria and Camden. She also noticed somebody she didn't recognize who was on all of their pages, an African American woman named Susie Carmichael Butler, who was married to a guy named Sean, and they also had two kids, a son named Chris, and a daughter named Patti. She also found all of these peoples' parents, and that they were all retired and living in Florida now. When she saw Stu and Didi Pickles, and saw that Stu was a retired inventer, and Didi use to be a teacher, she had a flashback to that day in the park, when Tommy told her as a toddler what his parents did.

"My daddy makes toys for me and Dilly to play with, and my mommy teachers peoples how to change diapies." She heard Tommy say in her mind, in his toddler voice.

Sure Didi had to teach them more than just how to change a dirty diaper, Rosie took a guess that Tommy must have said this because perhaps on Take your Child to Work Day, his mommy had the class learn how to change diapers, using Tommy as a learning aid. She didn't know just how right she was, as that had really happened with Tommy, so many years ago, before he got a little brother, or went to Paris, or met Rosie. So it would only be natural, for a young child to say that, if that's what he saw his mommy do at her job.

No matter, Rosie just sighed as she looked through all of the profiles, as she started to friend these people on Facebook, posting a little comment to their walls, stating that while they might not remember, she has known them since childhood, and to those people who she encountered on her trip to Pittsfield, she stated where she saw them over the past week.

The only one to friend her back at first was Chuckie, probably because he recognized that she was also friends with Bassem, who she and Chuckie both knew. One night, when Bassem had to work late, Rosie and Chuckie got to talking on Facebook Messenger, where they caught up. She learned during that conversation several things, including the fact that when Tommy was young, he always wanted to be a film director. Now this much, she vaguely remembered from their final 2 years of talking together as kids, as she had seen his first film, Creatures of the Backyard on Youtube and Facebook, but that sadly, Tommy was involved in an accident as a teenager that left him blind, causing him to have to give up that dream. He settled on journalism, and while he can no longer direct movies, he's found other ways to keep that love of film alive, even if it was through interviewing celebreties and film directors who came to the Berkshires for vacations in the summer, Tommy would take the time to do feature articles on them for the paper. Sadly though, just the previous summer, Tommy had to write one of the most difficult things he ever wrote, Steven Spealberg's obitchuary, as he had died while vacationing in the Berkshires, during Tanglewood season.

Rosie felt bad for Tommy, but she was also proud of him for continuing to be the strong person she always knew him to be, the type to never give up, and living life to the fullest. She also sat there, sighing, hoping that one day, Bassem would finally want to settle down, as seeing all of her friends married, as even Courtney was happily married to a guy named Brandon, and Hazel was happily married to a guy named Hunter, and sadly, Natalie suffered from a stroke at around age twenty that took her life, Rosie so wanted to move on to the next stage of her's. Little did she know her wish would be coming true sooner than she thought.

An hour had passed, when Bassem finally got home, discovering Rosie talking with Chuckie on Facebook.

"Can you wrap up your conversation with good old Chuck? I need to talk to you for a minute." Said Bassem.

Rosie told Chuckie she had to go, and quickly turned aqround to see Bassem standing there.

"What's up?" Rosie asked.

"Just, come with me." Said Bassem, as he grabbed a hold of Rosie's hand, and led her to their living room, where he sat her down on the couch. Then, he knelt down on the floor in front of her, and took both of Rosie's hands into his, gazing passionately into her eyes.

"Honey? Will you marry me?" Bassem asked.

Rosie had a look of shock on her face. She couldn't believe that after nearly twelve years of dating, he finally wanted to do it. She was so happy, she could barely contain herself.

"Yes, yes Bassem I do!" Cried Rosie with a smile, as she gave Bassem a huge hug and kiss. Then, he pulled a small box out of his pocket, and placed a ring on Rosie's finger.

They agreed to get married in six months, and over the next six months, they did a lot to prepare for the wedding, which would take place at Saint Paul's Casidral in Boston, Mass. Also during this time, everybody who Rosie had run into on Facebook on the night of the proposal, had finally friended her back, and from time to time, she would talk to them, though with everybody's busy lives, especially Tommy's, she hardly ever spoke to him.

Finally, the day came for Rosie and Bassem's wedding. Bassem took care of all of the invitations, while Rosie helped her bride's maids, Hazel, Courtney, and her older sister Mary, pick out dresses. The wedding colors were purple and green, as those were Bassem's favorite colors, and Rosie had no trouble with that. But when Rosie walked down the isle, and looked around the church, she couldn't believe all who had showed up for the wedding.

The Albanys, Pickles, Wehrenbergs, Barrows, Devilles, Finsters, Butlers, and Cowhoons had all shown up at her wedding. Bassem even allowed them to invite a friend, so Tommy invited his friend Bobby Generic, along with his wife Jackie and their son Tony, who was the same age as Darin, to come to the wedding too. Rosie couldn't believe her eyes, that all of these people had shown up there, and it was all she could do, to keep from crying with happiness, as the wedding ceremony began.

The minister asked Rosie and Bassem the traditional wedding questions, and they each did their part, by answering with an I do, till the ceremony was complete.

"I now pronounce you, Mister and Misses, Arakelian. You may now, kiss the bride." Said the minister, as Rosie and Bassem shared their first kiss as husband and wife.

At the reception, they had lots to eat including a beautiful wedding cake, but the best part, was that Tommy had made the toast.

"I'd like to make a toast, to Bassem and Rosie Arakelian. Bassem, a good friend and once college roommate to my best friend since infantilehood, and to Rosie, who, while we lost touch for many years, she was the first girl I ever loved, way back in the ancient days of childhood. While most childhood crushes never last forever, as to be expected, it's always a pleasant surprise, to run into them again later in life, and to Rosie, while we never had a future together, I'm happy that you've found a future with another, and a really great guy, who I did have the pleasure of meeting once in my college days, when I paid Chuckie a visit at Prenston back in 2031. To Rosie and Bassem, may this marriage, be everlasting." Said Tommy, as everyone toasted and cheered for the newly wed couple.

Rosie got tears in her eyes, as she was so happy, not only for her, but for those friends she met so many years ago. Not only was she happy that all of them found happiness with their careers, a partner, and offspring, but she was happy to see, that all of them, were still close friends, who looked out for one another, to this very day. She was also happy to see that Angelica had grown up a lot, and wasn't a brat anymore.

Two days after their wedding, Rosie and Bassem left for their honeymoon in London England, a place that both of them had always wanted to visit. One night, while they were alone in their hotel room, Rosie just stared at Bassem.

"What is it?" Bassem asked, noticing the tears of joy filling his wife's eyes.

"I just, wanted to say thank you, for bringing my childhood back into my life." Said Rosie.

"You're very welcome." Said Bassem, as they shared a kiss, and curled up in bed together.

From that day forward, they would pay visits to Pittsfield, to visit their friends, and as for having offspring of their own, it's something they hoped to see happen, at some point, down the road, but for now, Rosie was just happy, to finally be settled down, with the one she loved, and that her childhood crush, was also happy for her.

The End


End file.
